Page 2 - Then Leon News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

All this is a reflection of our personal appreciation to you and the gratitude of a nation that you have helped to keep strong and to keep free. by the time i came to office, leon panetta was already regarded as one of our nation's finest public servants with an extraordinary career across more than four decades. he and sylvia had settled into the good life. their beautiful monterey, their beloved walnut farm. leon will deny it, but i hear he was going restless. he wanted less time on the tractor and enjoying good weather and more time in the office. less time in california, more time in washi...

To his sense of duty that he agreed to serve on this one last tour. and perhaps it was the memory during world war ii of his parents opening up their homes to gis headed for the pacific. perhaps it was because leon served himself as a young lieutenant in the army. perhaps it was the experience of watching his youngest son deploy to afghanistan. what we do know is this, as our nation's 23rd secretary of defense, every action leon panetta has taken, every decision that he has made, has been with one goal in mind -- taking care of our sons and our daughters in uniform and keeping america safe. an...

Had no money and spoke little english, but they had a dream of a better life. they worked hard. they went west to california. they started a family and taught their sons that if they studied and worked, if they gave back to this country, that they, too, could share in america's promise. today we pay tribute to their son, leon panetta, a man who hasn't simply lived up to the american dream but has helped to protect it for all of us. leon, our presence here today, members of congress, deputy secretary carter, general dempsey, and the members of the joint chiefs, service secretaries, and the men ...