[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio]
Before I begin, let me
take a moment to congratulate the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the
other distinguished guests without whom the construction and operation
of this memorial would not have been possible. Let me also say that
America
is grateful to the hundreds of Vietnam
veterans who, when I asked them to join my Administration, did so, and
have and are serving our nation so proudly. For your devotion to
America,
I salute you.
We're gathered today, just as we have gathered before, to
remember those who served, those who fought, and those who -- those
still missing, and those who gave their last full measure of devotion
for our country. We're gathered at a monument on which the names of our
fallen friends and loved ones are engraved, and with crosses instead of
diamonds beside them, the names of those whose fate we do not yet know.
One of those who fell wrote, shortly before his death, these words:
"Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their
dying and keep it with your own. And take one moment to embrace those
gentle heroes you left behind."
Well, today,
Veterans
Day, as we do every year, we take that moment to embrace the gentle
heroes of Vietnam
and of all our wars. We remember those who were called upon to give all
a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that
sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it
never was. Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with
which all of them ennobled their nation as they became champions of a
noble cause.
I'm not speaking provocatively here. Unlike the other
wars of this century, of course, there were deep divisions about the
wisdom and rightness of the Vietnam war. Both
sides spoke with honesty and fervor. And what more can we ask in our
democracy? And yet after more than a decade of desperate boat people,
after the killing fields of Cambodia,
after all that has happened in that unhappy part of the world, who can
doubt that the cause for which our men fought was just? It was, after
all, however imperfectly pursued, the cause of freedom; and they showed
uncommon courage in its service. Perhaps at this late date we can all
agree that we've learned one lesson: that young Americans must never
again be sent to fight and die unless we are prepared to let them win.
But -- But -- But beyond that, we remember today that all
our gentle heroes of Vietnam
have given us a lesson in something more: a lesson in living love. Yes,
for all of them, those who came back and those who did not, their love
for their families lives; their love for their buddies on the battlefields and friends back home
lives; their love of their country lives.1
This memorial has become a monument to that living love.
The thousands who come to see the names testify to a
love that endures. The messages and mementos they leave speak
with a whispering voice that passes gently through the surrounding trees
and to out across the breast of our peaceful nation: a childhood teddy
bear, a photograph of the son or daughter born too late to know his or
her father, a battle ribbon, a note -- there are so many of these, and
all are testimony to our living love for them. And our nation itself is
testimony to the love our veterans have had for it and for us. Our
liberties, our values, all for which America stands is safe today
because brave men and women have been ready to face the fire at
freedom's front. And we thank God for them.
Yes, gentle heroes and living love and our memories of a
time when we faced great divisions here at home. And yet if this place
recalls all this, both sweet and sad, it also reminds us of a great and
profound truth about our nation: that from all our divisions we have
always eventually emerged strengthened. Perhaps we are finding that new
strength today, and if so, much of it comes from the forgiveness and
healing love that our Vietnam
veterans have shown.
For too long a time, they stood in a chill wind, as if on
a winter night's watch. And in that night, their deeds spoke to us, but
we knew them not. And their voices called to us, but we heard them not.
Yet in this land that God has blessed, the dawn always at last follows
the dark, and now morning has come. The night is over. We see these men
and know them once again -- and know how much we owe them, how much
they've given us, and how much we can never fully repay. And not just as
individuals but as a nation, we say we love you.
These -- These days, we show our love in many ways --
some of it through the Government. We now fly the POW - MIA flag at this
memorial on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and POW - MIA Recognition Day.
This is a small gesture, but a significant one. America
also keeps a vigil for those who have not yet returned. We have
negotiated with the Vietnamese to bring our nation's sons home, and for
the first time to have joint teams investigating remote areas of
Vietnam
that might shed light on the fate of those we list as missing. In
Laos,
we have also begun a new round of surveys and excavations of crash
sites. And we have told Hanoi
that it must prove to the American people through its cooperation
whether men are still being held against their will in Indochina.
Otherwise we will assume some are, and we will do everything we can to
find them.
Here at home, a new
Department of Veterans Affairs and extended veterans benefits are
merely outward and visible signs of an inward and invisible grace that
has come to our land. Vietnam
service is once more universally recognized as a badge of pride. Four
years ago, I noted that this healing had begun and that I hoped that
before my days as Commander in Chief were over it would be completed.
Well, now as I approach the end of my service and I see Vietnam
veterans take their rightful place among America's
heroes, it appears to me that we have healed. And what can I say to our
Vietnam
veterans but: Welcome home.
Now before I go, as have so many others, Nancy and I
wanted to leave a note at the wall. And if I may read it to you before
doing so, we will put this note here before we leave:
Our young friends -- yes, young friends, for in our
hearts you will always be young, full of the love that is youth,
love of life, love of joy, love of country -- you fought for your
country and for its safety and for the freedom of others with
strength and courage. We love you for it. We honor you. And we have
faith that, as He does all His sacred children, the Lord will bless
you and keep you, the Lord will make His face to shine upon you and
give you peace, now and forever more.