    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [November 11, 2002]
    [Pages 2061-2062]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Veterans Day Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia
    November 11, 2002

        Thank you very much. Thank you for that warm welcome. Mr.
    Secretary, thank you for your
    leadership. Members of my Cabinet who are here, distinguished Members of
    Congress, members of the United States military, Joe Burns, veterans organizations which are represented here, our
    veterans, my fellow Americans, thank you for coming.
        We gather this morning to show our gratitude to the veterans of the
    United States Armed Forces. Here and across the Nation, Americans are
    marking this day with expressions of respect for all who have worn the
    uniform of our country.
        This is a day of honor. Yet every day in this National Cemetery,
    family members visit the graves of loved ones, and veterans come to
    honor their lost friends. And nearly every day, in solemn ceremony,
    another veteran is laid to rest at Arlington. This is a place of
    national mourning and national memory. We remember those who served
    America by fighting and dying on the field of battle, and we remember
    those veterans who lived on for many decades to serve America in many
    ways.
        Not every marker in this cemetery bears a name. Near us are the
    graves of Americans from three wars, men known only to God but honored
    by their country and by the guards who stand watch. If you're a veteran,
    you also stand watch over the memory of great events and of brave young
    Americans. You're witnesses to what was gained in our wars and what was
    lost. You carry the fine traditions and values of our military, and you
    share them by example. You have a special place in the life of America,
    and America is proud of you.
        One veteran, a company commander in the Normandy invasion, returned
    many decades later to the cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. He said,
    ``Standing there in appreciation and sadness and long-postponed grief, I
    could only wonder, why not me?'' Millions of veterans have asked
    themselves that same question, and it has helped to shape the course of
    their lives.
        Veterans do not take life for granted. They know that duty and
    sacrifice are more than words. And they love America deeply because they
    know the cost of freedom, and they know the names and faces of men and
    women who paid for it.
        The term ``veteran'' conveys more than a rank held in the past.
    Military service forms priorities and commitments that last for a
    lifetime. Every person who has put on the uniform, whether in time of
    war or in time of peace, has also felt a new sense of responsibility.
        Dwight Eisenhower once recalled the day he began his military
    career. ``The feeling came over me,'' he said, ``that the expression
    `the United States of America'

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    would now and henceforth mean something different than it had ever
    before. From here on, it would be the Nation I would be serving, not
    myself.''
        Long after their honorable discharge, our veterans still symbolize
    what it means to be a citizen. Go to any community in this country, and
    you will find veterans in positions of service and leadership. In so
    many ways, veterans live out the meaning of patriotism and idealism and
    concern for others. Those of us who are the children and grandchildren
    of veterans have seen those qualities up close. Each of us is better
    because of the influence of a veteran, and so is America.
        America must and will keep its word to those men and women who have
    given us so much. Veterans have been promised good health care when they
    are sick and disabled. They must be treated with fairness and respect.
    And to families across this land with loved ones whose fate is still
    undetermined, America owes the fullest possible accounting of our
    prisoners of war and those missing in action.
        Every veteran once stood ready to give all for our country, and they
    know that a true soldier never welcomes war. This Nation loves peace. We
    work and sacrifice for peace. Yet America must always be prepared to
    confront and defeat the enemies of human freedom. And when war is forced
    upon us, we will see it through to victory.
        At this hour, members of our military are serving on the scattered
    battlefields of a new kind of war. In Afghanistan and beyond, they're on
    the trail of killers who brought death to the innocent and war to our
    country. That mission will go on until the terrorists who struck America
    are fully and finally defeated.
        This new kind of war also requires us to confront outlaw regimes
    that seek and possess the tools of mass murder. We will not permit a
    dictator who has used weapons of mass destruction to threaten America
    with chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. This great Nation will
    not live at the mercy of any foreign plot or power. The dictator of
    Iraq will fully disarm, or the United States
    will lead a coalition and disarm him.
        Over the generations, Americans in uniform have defended this Nation
    without seeking to dominate any nation. American troops do not come as
    conquerors but as liberators. We believe in self-government for every
    land, and we believe that freedom is the hope of people of all cultures.
        By standing for freedom today, our military follows in a great
    tradition of courage and faithful service. Free nations are in debt to
    the long, distinguished line of American veterans, and all Americans owe
    our veterans our liberty.
        On this Veterans Day, we honor veterans, and we honor their
    families, and we offer the thanks of a grateful nation. May God bless
    our veterans, and may God continue to bless the United States of
    America.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:35 a.m. in the Memorial Amphitheater at
    Arlington National Cemetery. In his remarks, he referred to Joe Burns,
    president, Blinded Veterans Association; and President Saddam Hussein of
    Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
    transcript of these remarks. The Veterans Day proclamation of November 6
    is listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume.