*By Eliana Cuevas
Santo Domingo.-Anniversary. A group of retired officers from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Police celebrated the 50th anniversary of their promotion with several activities that included raising the National Flag, a mass and a lunch.
The activities, which took place at the Ministry of Defense on Wednesday of this week, brought together part of this promotion, some even coming from other countries where they are established.
In the early hours of the morning the group of retired officers participated in the raising of the National Flag and at 11:00 they attended a mass in the Nuestra Señor de la Altagracia parish, of the Ministry of Defense.
At noon they went to the Restoration room of the aforementioned ministry, where they shared lunch.
Testimony
Ramón Mercedes Reyes, one of the now retired officers of that class who 50 years ago entered the Battle of Las Carreras Military Academy as cadets, then explained to the applicants from the Army, the National Police, and the Navy (as it was called in those days) that they had in common the first years of instruction at the aforementioned academic center in Santo Domingo Este.
When asked what the memory of those years of training and performance of duties in the Dominican Armed Forces meant for him in particular, he responded that the main thing was service and feeling part of the institutions called to give themselves for the preservation of national sovereignty.
In his case, he stated that in the Armed Forces he had the hardest and happiest moments of his life.
