    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [May 8, 1995]
    [Pages 654-657]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the 50th Anniversary of V-E Day in Arlington, Virginia
    May 8, 1995

        Thank you, Colonel McIntosh, for those remarkable words and your
    remarkable service. General Shalikashvili, Secretary Perry, Secretary
    Brown, Father Sampson, Members of Congress, members of the Armed Forces,
    distinguished guests, American veterans all, and especially to our most
    honored guests, the veterans of the Second World War:
        Fifty years ago on this day the guns of war in Europe fell silent. A
    long shadow that had been cast on the entire Continent was lifted.
    Freedom's warriors rejoiced. We come today, 50 years later, to recall
    their triumph, to remember their sacrifice, and to rededicate ourselves
    to the ideals for which they fought and for which so many of them died.
        By Victory Day in Europe, from the beaches of Normandy to the gates
    of Moscow, some 40 million people lost their lives in World War II.
    These enormous but faceless numbers hid

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    millions upon millions of personal tragedies: soldiers shot and
    shattered by weapons of war, prisoners cut down by disease and
    starvation, children buried in the rubble of bombed-out buildings, and
    entire families exterminated solely because of the blood that ran in
    their veins. And for every death, so many more fell wounded, physically
    and emotionally. They would survive, but their lives would be changed
    forever.
        At war's end, an 8-year-old boy, already a veteran of air raids and
    bomb shelters, was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. He
    answered with one word, ``Alive.''
        The American people, secure on our continent, sobered by memories of
    the last war, were not eager to enter into the struggle. But they were
    stirred by the extraordinary courage of the British, all alone and
    carrying liberty's flickering torch into Europe's darkening night.
    Pushed by their passion for freedom, prodded by the wise leadership of
    President Roosevelt, and provoked finally by the infamy at Pearl Harbor,
    Americans went to war.
        It became an all-consuming effort. Millions were heroes here on the
    homefront. They built the planes, the ships, the tanks, the trucks that
    carried the Allied armies into battle. They bought victory bonds to pay
    for the war. They collected scrap metal for weapons, worn-out rubber for
    tires, left-over fat for explosives. And they planted 20 million victory
    gardens to help feed the Nation.
        With good cheer they sacrificed, rationing food and clothing,
    holding themselves to 3 gallons of gas a week. And President Roosevelt
    willed them onward. ``There is one front and one battle,'' he said,
    ``where everyone in the United States, every man, woman, and child, is
    in action. That front is right here at home.''
        Across the ocean, their fathers and brothers, sisters and mothers,
    friends and neighbors gave the best years of their lives to the terrible
    business of war. Some of them were among the greatest leaders our
    country and the world have ever known: Eisenhower, Marshall, Bradley,
    Patton. But no matter their rank, every soldier, airman, marine, sailor,
    every merchant marine, every nurse, every doctor was a hero who carried
    the banner of justice into the battle for freedom.
        Some of them are here with us today. The gentleman who introduced
    me, Frederick McIntosh, was then an Air Force lieutenant. He flew, as
    has been said, 104 missions. His daring dive-bomb raids on D-Day helped
    clear the way for the Allied landing. Another veteran behind me, Robert
    Katayama, a private with the Japanese-American 442d Regimental Combat
    Team that finally broke through the formidable Gothic line in Italy
    after 5 months of ferocious assault; another, Anna Connelly Wilson, a
    nurse who tended American soldiers moving gasoline and munitions across
    the deserts of Iran into the hands of our Russian allies; another, Abben
    MaGuire, a Navy demolition expert who landed on Omaha Beach ahead of the
    Allied assault, clearing mines, barbed wire, and booby traps under heavy
    fire from the enemy; another, George Ellers, a seaman on Coast Guard
    boats, charged with protecting the merchant marine armadas that ferried
    food and supplies from America to Europe and beyond; Joseph Kahoe, a
    lieutenant with the all-African-American 761st Tank Battalion, who
    braved the deadening cold of the Ardennes and the brutal Nazi
    counterattacks to help win the Battle of the Bulge; and Father Francis
    Sampson, an Army chaplain who parachuted into Normandy, then into
    Holland, was wounded, captured, but managed to escape.
        In their bravery, and that of all their brothers and sisters in
    arms, America found the will to defeat the forces of fascism. And today
    we, the sons and daughters of their sacrifice, say thank you, and well
    done.
        I ask all the veterans of World War II now to stand and be
    recognized. [Applause]
        During the war's final weeks, America's fighting forces thundered
    across Europe, liberating small villages and great cities from a long
    nightmare. Many witnessed an outpouring of love and gratitude they would
    remember for the rest of their lives.
        Deep in the Bavarian countryside, Corporal Bill Ellington piloted
    his armored vehicle into a battle against retreating enemy troops. As a
    firefight raged, a rail-thin teenage boy ran, shouting toward the tank.
    He was a young Polish Jew, Samuel Pisar, who had survived 4 years at
    Auschwitz and other concentration camps, but along the way had lost his
    entire family. Samuel Pisar had seen the tank and its glorious 5-point
    white star from his hideaway in a barn.
        As Ellington looked down at him, the boy dropped to his knees and
    repeated over and over the few words of English his mother had taught
    him: ``God bless America. God bless America.'' And Ellington, the son of
    a slave,

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    lifted the boy through the hatch and into the warm embrace of freedom.
        Bill Ellington died a few years ago. But Samuel Pisar, now an
    American citizen, is here with us today. And I'd like to ask him to
    stand as a reminder of what that war was all about. [Applause]
        The saga of hope emerged from the ashes of a horror that defies
    comprehension still: the Nazi death camps. In the gas chambers and
    crematoriums was proof of man's infinite capacity for evil. In the empty
    eyes of the skeletal survivors was a question that to this day has never
    been answered: How could this happen?
        But at 2:40 a.m. on May 7th, in a small red-brick schoolhouse in
    France, the Germans signed their unconditional surrender. The armistice
    took effect the next day, this day 50 years ago.
        News of the victory spread and grew from a ripple of excitement to a
    river of joy. The liberated capitals of Western Europe were awash in
    relief and jubilation. The boulevards burst with flag-waving, teary-eyed
    thanksgiving celebrants. Everywhere people tore down their blackout
    curtains and let the light of peace shine out.
        In the sky over Moscow, gigantic white rays of light from huge
    projectors slashed the darkness of night, and a 1,000-gun salute shook
    the city. There, too, millions teemed into the street. But their joy was
    dulled by the pain of their nation's unique sacrifice, for one out of
    every eight Soviet citizens was killed in World War II, 27 million
    people. At almost every table in every home there was an empty place.
        In London, where a brave and defiant people had stood alone through
    the war's darkest hours, great bonfires ringed the city. And on the
    balcony of Buckingham Palace, Prime Minister Churchill stilled the
    delirious crowd with his own silence. Then he took one, deep, all-
    embracing bow, and the crowd exploded into a roar of triumph. ``This is
    your victory,'' Churchill declared. And the people of the United Kingdom
    answered back as one: ``No, it is yours.'' Of course, both were right.
        Here at home, the Washington Monument, the Capitol Dome, the Statute
    of Liberty were bathed in floodlights for the very first time since
    Pearl Harbor. New York was New Year's Day and the Fourth of July rolled
    into one. Millions cheered, shouted, sang, danced in the streets. And in
    an image that traveled all around the world, a sailor took a nurse in
    his arms and kissed her, with all the pent-up youthful enthusiasm of a
    people forgetting for an instant the new burdens of adulthood.
        Less than a month in office, President Truman addressed the Nation
    and said, ``This is a solemn but glorious hour. I only wish FDR had
    lived to witness this day.'' Millions of Americans shared that
    conviction, for in their darkest hour, President Roosevelt refused to
    let us give up in despair. He rallied the Americans to defeat depression
    and triumph in war. And so it was his victory, too.
        It was America's victory, but the job for us was not yet complete.
    In the Pacific, war raged on. During the 3 months between V-E and V-J
    Day, many thousands more of our fighting men and women would lose their
    lives. After Japan surrendered, who could have blamed the American
    people for wanting to turn from the front lines abroad to the homefront?
    But after winning the most difficult and crucial victory in our Nation's
    history, our leaders were determined not to repeat the mistakes of the
    past.
        Instead, they took to new challenges with a newfound confidence. And
    this remarkable generation of Americans then, through NATO, the United
    Nations, and the Marshall plan, created the institutions and provided
    the resources and the vision that brought half a century of security and
    prosperity to the West and brought our former enemies back to life and
    to true partnership with us. And their special resolve and military
    strength held totalitarianism in check until the power of democracy, the
    failure of communism, and the heroic determination of people to be free
    prevailed in the cold war.
        Today we must draw inspiration from the extraordinary generation we
    come here to honor, a generation that won the war and then made sure we
    would not lose the peace, a generation that understood our destiny is
    inexorably linked to that of other nations, a generation that believed
    that with our great wealth, great power, and great blessings of
    democratic freedom come great responsibilities to stand for and work for
    the common good.
        So let me say again to the generation that won the Second World War,
    on this 50th anniversary, on behalf of the American people, we say thank
    you. Thank you, and God bless you. Because of all you did, we live in a
    moment of hope, in a Nation at peace. For the first time since the dawn
    of the nuclear age, no

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    Russian missiles are pointed at our children. Our economy is sound. And
    because free markets and democracy now are on the march throughout the
    world, more people than ever before have the opportunity to reach their
    God-given potential. All because of what you did 50 years ago.
        But there is one thing that even you could not do, that no
    generation can ever do. You could not banish the forces of darkness from
    the future. We confront them now in different forms all around the world
    and, painfully, here at home. But you taught us the most important
    lesson: that we can prevail over the forces of darkness, that we must
    prevail. That is what we owe to you and the incomparable legacy you have
    given us and what we all owe to the generations of remarkable Americans
    yet to come.
        Thank you for teaching us that lesson. God bless you, and God bless
    America.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:35 a.m. at Fort Myer.