Freedom Alliance held its fourth annual Military Appreciation Day with the New York Mets at Citi Field this Memorial Day, hosting 850 service members to Monday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The evening began with children of deployed service members leading the crowd in the pledge of allegiance. Service members and their families also took to the field where they received warm applause and cheers for their service.  There was a joint enlistment service for 16 new members of the Army, Air Force, and Marines, and at the conclusion of the National Anthem, preformed by the US Marine Corps Band, two US Navy F18 Hornets flew over, sending the crowd into cheers.

Many of the service members were able to watch the game from two Citi Field Stadium suites. During that time Freedom Alliance volunteer, Alicia Behm, had the chance to talk with many of the guests, including Mary, whose husband is deployed in Afghanistan right now.

Mary told Alicia about the hard times they’ve had to endure as a dual military family, as Mary herself is also in the Army as a JAG officer.  She even took the bar exam while her husband was deployed the second time. During the game Mary was able to talk to her husband during the live satellite feed from Afghanistan.

Mary and her husband have four children together, three boys and one girl.  She was only able to bring her two oldest boys to see their dad on the megatron during the game.  She spoke with great optimism about seeing her husband later this year.

Another service member that Freedom Alliance hosted sent us a thank you note “Thank you for hosting us last night at the Mets game! All the service personnel had a great time and I appreciate everything you did for us.”

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