    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [April 24, 1991]
    [Pages 425-427]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Ceremony for the Posthumous Presentation of the Medal of
    Honor to Corporal Freddie Stowers
    April 24, 1991

        Welcome to the White House. I salute the Vice President and Mrs.
    Quayle, and Secretary Cheney, other members of our Cabinet, General
    Vuono, distinguished Members of Congress who are with us today, and
    former Congressman Joe DioGuardi. I'm especially glad Joe's with us here
    today. To the former Medal of Honor recipients, I salute each and every
    one of you. To Georgiana Palmer and Mary Bowens--the sisters of today's
    honoree are with us, and don't they look lovely. We are just delighted.
        And a note of more than trivial passing: the honoree's great-
    grandnephew, Staff Sergeant Douglas Warren, of the 101st Airborne--he
    returned--he looks a little jet-lagged to me, but he returned just last
    night from Saudi Arabia. And I want to welcome you home.
        And we also--to do equal time to the Air Force, why, we salute you,
    Mr. Stowers, also back here. He's at Langley.
        So, it's a lovely day here, and we welcome each and every one of you
    to the White House. We want to honor a true hero, a man who makes us
    proud of our

    [[Page 426]]

    heritage as Americans, a man who, in life and death, helped keep America
    free. I speak of Corporal Freddie Stowers, to whom posthumously we
    present our highest military award for valor: the Medal of Honor. It's
    an award for bravery and conscience, the compendium we call character.
        Today, Corporal Freddie Stowers becomes the first black soldier
    honored with the Medal of Honor from World War I. He sought and helped
    achieve the triumph of right over wrong. He showed, as this year has
    proved again, that an inspired human heart can surmount bayonets and
    barbed wire.
        Seventy-three years ago, the Corporal first was recommended for a
    Medal of Honor, but his award was not acted upon. In 1987, then-
    Congressman Joe DioGuardi and my friend the late Mickey Leland, known to
    many here, from Houston, discovered the Stowers case while conducting
    other research. And the Army took up the case. And last November, the
    Secretaries of the Army and Defense recommended that Corporal Stowers
    receive the Medal of Honor. I heard his story, accepted their
    recommendation enthusiastically.
        It's been said that the ultimate measure of a man is not where he
    stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at
    times of challenge. On September 28th, 1918, Corporal Freddie Stowers
    stood poised on the edge of such a challenge and summoned his mettle and
    his courage.
        He and the men of Company C, 371st Infantry Regiment, began their
    attack on Hill 188 in the Champagne Marne Sector of France. Only a few
    minutes after the fighting began, the enemy stopped firing and enemy
    troops climbed out of their trenches onto the parapets of the trench,
    held up their arms and seemed to surrender. The relieved American forces
    held their fire, stepped out into the open. As our troops moved forward,
    the enemy jumped back into their trenches and sprayed our men with a
    vicious stream of machine gun and mortar fire. The assault annihilated
    well over 50 percent of Company C.
        And in the midst of this bloody chaos, Corporal Stowers took charge
    and bravely led his men forward, destroying their foes. Although he was
    mortally wounded during the attack, Freddie Stowers continued to press
    forward urging his men on until he died.
        On that September day, Corporal Stowers was alone, far from family
    and home. He had to be scared; his friends died at his side. But he
    vanquished his fear and fought not for glory but for a cause larger than
    himself: the cause of liberty.
        Today, as we pay tribute to this great soldier, our thoughts
    continue to be with the men and women of all our wars who valiantly
    carried the banner of freedom into battle. They, too, know America would
    not be the land of the free, if it were not also the home of the brave.
        The soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coastguardsmen of Desert
    Storm--a group that includes Staff Sergeant Warren--all these valiant
    Americans are heirs to the legacy of Corporal Stowers and the men of
    Company C. No nation could be more proud of its sons and daughters than
    we are of them.
        Today, we celebrate their achievements, but we also heed these words
    echoing over the centuries: Only the dead have seen the end of war. We
    owe it to Freddie Stowers and those who revere his legacy to defend the
    principles for which he died and for which our great country stands.
        In that spirit, I am honored to welcome two of his sisters--
    Georgiana Palmer, of Richmond, California, and Mary Bowens, of
    Greenville, South Carolina. They will accept the award on behalf of
    their late brother, the text of which I will now ask Sergeant Major
    Byrne to read the citation.

    [At this point, the citation was read.]

        I think that concludes the service, but I'd like to ask the Vice
    President and Secretary of Defense and General Vuono and General Powell
    to come up and thank our recipients. And maybe the other members of the
    Joint Chiefs would join us. I think it would be most appropriate.

                        Note: The President spoke at 3:08 p.m. in the East
                            Room at the White House. In his remarks, he
                            referred to Vice President Dan Quayle and his
                            wife, Marilyn; Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney;
                            Gen. Carl E. Vuono,

    [[Page 427]]

                            Army Chief of Staff; former Representatives
                            Joseph J. DioGuardi and Mickey Leland; Georgiana
                            Palmer and Mary Bowen, sisters of Corporal
                            Stowers, and S. Sgt. Douglas Warren and T. Sgt.
                            Odis Stowers, his great-grandnephews; Secretary
                            of the Army Michael P.W. Stone; Sean Byrne, Army
                            Aide to the President; and Gen. Colin L. Powell,
                            Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.