For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 28, 2001
Remarks by the President at Memorial Day Ceremony
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
11:34 A.M. EDT
View the President's
Remarks
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very
much. Please be seated.
Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for those
kind remarks. Secretary Principi, General Shelton and
members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Jackson, members of the
Cabinet, members of the United States Congress, honored
guests. We have a lot of generations represented here
today. But I would like for what's now called the Greatest
Generation to please stand, with those who served in World War II,
their widows, World War II orphans, please rise. (Applause.)
My fellow Americans, a few moments ago, for
the first time as President, I paid tribute at this tomb where American
soldiers were laid to rest. Their names are known only to
God. But there is much we do know about them and about all
the others we remember today. We know that they all loved
their lives as we love ours. We know they had a place in the
world, families waiting for them, and friends they expected to see
again. We know that they thought of a future, just as we do, with
plans and hopes for a long and full life. And we know that
they left those hopes behind when they went to war, and parted with
them forever when they died.
Every Memorial Day, we try to grasp the extent
of this loss and the meaning of this sacrifice. And it
always seems more than words can convey. All we can do is remember and
always appreciate the price that was paid for our own lives and for our
own freedom.
Today, in thousands of towns across this great
land, Americans are gathered to pay their own tributes. At
3:00 p.m. this afternoon, Americans will pause for a moment of
remembrance. They will meet at monuments or in public
squares or, like us, in places where those we honor were laid to rest.
More than any words we say, the truth is told
in the things we see, in markers, in dates, in names around
us. Some of the names here at Arlington are written large in
our history: President John F. Kennedy and his brother
Robert; General George C. Marshall; Second Lieutenant Audie Murphy of
Kingston, Texas; General Chappy James; Lieutenant Colonel Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Jr. of the Union Army; Captain Robert Todd Lincoln;
Generals Bradley and Pershing; Admirals Leahy and Rickover; and three
of the men who planted the flag at Iwo Jima.
These men were known for their wartime
service, and also for the lives they lived afterward. For
many, however, the afterward never came. Within these 200
acres are the remains of men and women who died young, some very
young. Walking along these paths, a visitor to this national
cemetery might view these markers as one great national
loss. And that is certainly the case.
But we must remember, for many who come here,
there is one marker that will always stand out among all the
others. In their eyes, it lies alone.
For one woman, Memorial Day brings thoughts of
the father she never knew. She recalled, as a young child,
learning to pray the words, "Our Father, who art in heaven," thinking
she was talking to her own father.
For others, there is the memory of the last
kiss as the train pulled away, a last wink and parting wisecrack from a
big brother, a brave smile from a son who seemed like a
boy. And then there was the telegram that came.
To those who have known that loss and felt
that absence, Memorial Day gives formal expression to a very personal
experience. Their losses can be marked, but not measured. We
can never measure the full value of what was gained in their
sacrifice. We live it every day in the comforts of peace and
the gifts of freedom. These have all been purchased for us.
From the very beginning, our country has faced
many tests of courage. Our answer to such tests can be found here on
these hills, and in America's cemeteries, from the islands of the
Pacific to the north coast of France.
And on Memorial Day, we must remember a
special group of veterans, Americans still missing and unaccounted for
from Vietnam, Korea, the Cold War and World War II. We honor
them today. They deserve and will have our best efforts to
achieve the fullest possible accounting and, alive or dead, to return
them home to America. (Applause.)
It is not in our nature to seek out wars and
conflicts. But whenever they have come, when adversaries
have left us no alternative, American men and women have stood ready to
take the risks and to pay the ultimate price.
People of the same caliber and the same
character today fill the ranks of the Armed Forces of the United
States. Any foe who might ever challenge our national
resolve would be repeating the grave errors of defeated enemies.
Because this nation loves peace, we do not
take it for granted. Because we love freedom, we are always prepared
to bear even its greatest costs.
Arriving here today, all of us passed the
strong straight figures of men and women who serve our country
today. To see their youth and discipline and clarity of
purpose is humbling to a Commander in Chief. They are the new
generation of America's defenders. They follow an unbroken
line of good and brave and unfaltering people who have never let this
country down.
Today, we honor those who fell from the line,
who left us never knowing how much they would be missed. We
pray for them, with an affection that grows deeper with the
years. And we remember them, all of them, with the love of a
grateful nation.
God bless America.
(Applause.)
END
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