Remarks at a Memorial Day Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 5, 2000

We are also grateful for the many groups like Rolling Thunder, who come to Washington to advocate for our POW/MIA families. We hear you. We certainly hear Rolling Thunder when they're here. [Laughter] We welcome you, and we are honored to work with you.

To preserve the peace, we must never forget the sacrifices that have paved the way to peace. Four years ago, Carmella LaSpada, a longtime advocate for families who have lost a loved one in conflict, asked a group of school children what Memorial Day means. And the children said, that's the day the pool opens. [Laughter] Well, that's not their fault that that was their answer. We adults must do more to teach them.

That's why Carmella worked with Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Douglass and so many of you here today to launch a new national commitment to put "memorial" back in Memorial Day. So today, for the third straight year, I ask all Americans, in a profoundly symbolic and important act of national unity, to pause, wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time, to observe a national moment of remembrance for America's fallen heroes.

At that time, the somber tones of "Taps," our national requiem, will be played all across America and beyond, in the U.S. Capitol, in the Vietnam Memorial, at Ellis Island and the Liberty Bell, in VA hospitals and national parks, on Voice of America and Armed Forces Network, and in hundreds of places we Americans will be gathering today. When little boys and girls turn to their parents and whisper, "Mommy, Daddy, what's happening?" a new generation of Americans will have a chance to hear about the defenders of freedom.

As we remember their sacrifice, as Secretary Cohen so eloquently pointed out, we must also resolve to fulfill the obligation the rest of us incurred with their sacrifice, to keep America free and strong. If those who fought and died for us could talk to us on this Memorial Day, they might well ask, "America, have you made our sacrifice matter?" At the dawn of a new century, Americans can answer that question with solemn pride. Today, we are fortunate to be the most powerful and prosperous nation on Earth, with a military respected around the world. We could say, "Yes, America has made your sacrifice matter."

America is at peace. And the risk of war that would scar the lives of a whole generation has been vastly reduced. Yes, America has made your sacrifice matter. You fought for freedom in foreign lands, knowing it would protect our freedom at home. Today, freedom advances all around the world, and for the first time in all human history, more than half the world's people choose their own leaders. Yes, America has made your sacrifice matter.

You fought to conquer tyranny and bring unity to Europe, where more than 100,000 American heroes are now buried. You gave your lives in places like Flanders Field and Normandy. But today, Europe is more united, more free, more peaceful than anytime in history. We have three new allies in NATO and many new partners across Europe's bid cold war divide. Central Europe is free and flourishing. Soldiers from almost every European country, the most bitter former adversaries among them, now serve under a single command, keeping the peace in Bosnia, in Kosovo. Yes, America is making your sacrifice matter.