[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

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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,

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                        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.