Groton — Franklin Knight Lane, U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1913 to 1920, once said: "I am not the flag: not at all. I am but its shadow."

"I believe this to be true of myself, all my comrades, all of our veterans past and present and the future, and those that support and serve them," said Assistant Adj. Gen. Mark Russo of the Connecticut National Guard on Friday. "We all serve in the shadow of our great nation, the shadow of our flag."

Russo made the comment as he delivered the keynote remarks at the sixth annual veterans remembrance event hosted by VITAS Healthcare, which provides end-of-life care to patients, including veterans, across Connecticut. About 275 people attended the event held at the Historic Ship Nautilus and Submarine Force Museum.

William Robinson, 89, a Navy veteran who served during World War II and Pearl Harbor, was "very impressed" by Friday's event, he said. Robinson, who lived most of his life in Lynbrook, N.Y., now lives at Atria Crossroads Place in Waterford, an assisted living home that has partnered with VITAS.

While he said living there can be "boring," all of the help provided is "fantastic." Robinson's nickname at Atria is "trouble." 

Robinson recalled encountering a typhoon while in Okinawa. Several ships were lost as a result of the typhoon. His ship was taking water from both sides, "and as we threw buckets of water over it would come back and hit us in the face," he said laughing.

He used his GI bill to go to college and study accounting, but ended up starting an insurance business with his father with $5,000.

Many members of the U.S. Submarine Veterans Groton Base were present, including Bud Atkins, a 2014 inductee of the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame, who led the shipmates remembrance ceremony.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, noted in his remarks that beyond the annual ceremony it hosts, VITAS shows its commitment to veterans in "many, many other places all across the state of Connecticut." Courtney added that many VITAS employees "are people who wore the uniform of this country in past conflicts and many of them are here today."

Courtney was quick to mention the new Undersea Warfighting Development Center coming to the base in Groton, "a tremendous designation for this area."

"This really shows the work that Capt. (Carl) Lahti (commanding officer of the base) and many others have poured into this effort, is really giving this base an enduring mission that will be around for many years to come, something which all of us from the state of Connecticut can be deeply proud of," Courtney said.

State representatives John Scott, R-Groton, and Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford, and state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, also attended the ceremony.

Editor's note: this version corrects VITAS' full company name.

j.bergman@theday.com

Twitter: @JuliaSBergman