As I sat on a bench the other morning looking down at the beach, I began to think of how many of our nation's heroes it must have seen over the years. Current day heroes are well represented by the young men in the BUDS classes on their morning run, along with the many other groups and individuals who pass by in the their Navy blue and yellow or Marine green from commands and units all over our beautiful island.

The other people on the beach that morning included various men and women who start their day with a walk or run on the beach.There is no way to tell, of course, but I feel certain that a number of these other individuals once proudly wore the uniform of their country's armed forces and certainly count as heroes on our beach.

Just I was preparing to continue my morning walk, an F-18 roared overhead and reminded me that not all of our heroes walked on the beach--some flew over it.

Is our beach a great place or what?