WATCH LIVE: Gov. DeSantis speaks in Palm Harbor

[Applause] thank you so much please be seated thank you thank you well well it's great to be back uh we've been able to do this for a number of years of course I grew up a Stones throwaway uh over in dun Eden and I think that what you guys have done here at curu Hills has been very meaningful um and you get great Community involvement and I'm I'm really hardened to see that's continued after all these years last year I was not at this one uh last year I went to the memorial in southern Manhattan at Ground Zero and we had uh done that after having become friends with a lot of 911 families uh we heard a lot of stories about not only that day but different types of challenges that have happened since then uh and my wife and I were able to go uh go to the different sites with the family members and they would tell you uh about the loved ones that they lost that day and it was always something that was very impactful for me starting on the day way back uh in 2001 uh but to be able to meet so many people whose lives were turned upside down that day uh has been very touching and I think it it it it strengthens the resolve to ensure that we're doing everything we can uh to never forget uh to honor the people that not only lost their lives that day but has been mentioned in the years since that day and that attack represented the worst that Humanity has to offer but the response to that attack whether it was the office workers in the World Trade Center who were scurrying their co-workers out of the building to safety whether it was members of the FDNY the Port Authority or the NYPD who ran into the burning Towers knowing the risk that entailed uh to save others lives and in the process many of them gave their own lives whether it's the passengers on United flight 93 who knew what was happening who knew that if they were to stop it uh that would mean that they were not going to survive that flight but yet realized that if they let the flight continue you could have hundreds maybe thousands more people killed and they were not going to let that happen on their watch uh what they did that day across the board represented the best of what humanity and America has to offer and we'll never forget the sacrifices that those folks made many of them just regular people doing a regular honest day's work or happen to be on a plane and yet they stood up and they were Heroes and for that we'll forever be grateful it's also worth uh remembering 911 changed this country in ways that few events have uh I can tell you in my own personal experience I would not have ended up likely joining the United States military had it not been for 911 and I would have very unlikely uh been on a deployment to Iraq had it not been for 911 uh so even though I didn't know anybody who had died in the World Trade Center at the Pentagon or in Shanksville Pennsylvania uh it was something that inspired me to say you know America is going to fight back uh and we had so many people uh of my generation who joined the military and yes you have the Afghanistan conflict which we all know that went on for a long time and the ending of that was not uh reflective of the honor uh that those folks who risked their lives deserved uh we also had a lengthy conflict in Iraq we never had a draft after that it was people that uh raised their hand and that meant those folks not only deployed once like me they deployed three times four times five times over a five 10 year period they missed Christmas they Miss Easter they miss birthdays they missed all the holidays uh with their families they shouldered an immense burden for this country and so on behalf of the post 911 generation of veterans I just want to say as Governor thank you for your service we appreciate what you did uh it was a difficult time for this country uh not every political decision that was made was the appropriate one uh but any Duty you were asked to do you did it and you discharged it with honor and with integrity and finally I just say we say never forget and part of the reason why you have events like we are up here today why they're at the World Trade Center site in Manhattan why they're at the Pentagon and why they're in Shanksville Pennsylvania is to ensure that people remember uh what happened that day honoring those who were killed celebrating Those Who Rose to the occasion and I think that that's totally appropriate but it also occurs to me that most of the people in our country who are under the age of 30 were either not born yet or probably too young to have a very firm memory of what 911 entailed and so by saying never forget uh doing things every year on 911 is necessary but it's not sufficient and so I'm proud to have worked with the Florida legislature to develop for our schools 911 curriculum so that every year we will have instruction on the causes of 911 the destruction of 911 the heroic response that so many made to 911 and this wasn't just something that was devised in some Ivory Tower this was something that was devised in conjunction with 911 families with people who had were veterans uh of the World Trade Center uh and Veteran of the Pentagon and I think this is something that's very very meaningful so as the father of young kids 7 six and four uh my kids may be a little too young to fully um understand at this point but I'm confident that growing up in the State of Florida uh they are going to be taught uh what this event means to our country uh it's a it's a wakeup call to know that that evil is out there uh but it also serves or should serve as inspiration to know that the way those folks responded uh when everything was on the line uh they Rose to the occasion uh they sacrificed themselves and they saved many many lives in the process so we worked hard on that curriculum and today is going to be across Florida the debut of that curriculum and it's something that's really really important and uh I know everybody here is appreciative that that's being done in the State of Florida Most states are not doing uh anything of this nature uh we're not going to forget and not only that uh if you outside of the tri state area we are the number one place where 9/11 veterans have moved to uh in the years since 911 uh you go look in this area you have people that retired from the port authority and the FDNY and and the NYPD uh so Florida we have a special obligation as being the uh desired home of so many people who were there that day uh to make sure we're doing right by their sacrifice and to make sure that future Generations truly never forget thank you God bless you God bless the memory of those lost God Bless the people who sacrificed and God bless these United States of America more special guests for you here this morning please welcome the East Lake High School magical singers led by