[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 1995)]
[Pages 2002-2004]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Veterans Day Wreath-Laying Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia

November 11, 1995

    Thank you, Secretary Brown, for your introduction and for your 
remarkable service on behalf of the veterans of the United States. 
General Foley, Commander Liwack, distinguished leaders of all our 
veterans organizations, Secretary Brown, Secretary Perry, General 
Shalikashvili, Attorney General Reno, Senator Simpson; especially to my 
friend Congressman Montgomery. I want to join the remarks that were 
earlier made and thank you, sir, for your lifetime of service to the 
United States and for your unparalleled service to the veterans of the 
United States. We will all miss you, and we thank you.
    To our men and women in uniform and their families here today and 
most of all, of course, to all of our veterans and their families and 
the Gold Star mothers and wives, their survivors who are here today; my 
fellow Americans: On this day that marked the end of World War I, we 
close the 50-year commemoration of the end of World War II. Together on 
this day we offer a prayer for peace and a tribute to those who defend 
it. All across this land a symphony of 50 bells will soar. Together on 
this day we say thank you to those who stepped forward to safeguard our 
security and our ideals. Today, this day, our grateful Nation is united 
to honor America's veterans.
    This year we have paid special homage to the World War II 
generation. From the windswept beaches of Normandy to the craggy rocks 
of Corregidor, meeting the Americans who fought in that struggle has 
been one of the great privileges I have had as your President. Later 
today we will honor all of them in dedicating the site of the World War 
II memorial, ensuring that we will never, never forget those who 
suffered and sacrificed so that future generations of Americans might be 
free.
    They followed in the footsteps of others who came before them, from 
those who battled for our independence to those who braved the trenches 
in ``the war to end all wars.'' And clearly they inspired successive 
generations of heroes, men and women who fought in Korea, Vietnam, and 
the Persian Gulf; who steadily won the cold war; who served with such 
skill and compassion in Haiti; who saved so many lives in more than one 
place in Africa; who halted the Bosnia Serb attacks against innocent 
civilians; and

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the men and women who, even as we gather here, safeguard the frontiers 
of freedom with their courage, their commitment, and their confidence.
    Our Nation has obligations to all those who wear our uniform, 
ensuring that our military remains the strongest in the world, leaving 
no stone unturned in the search for the fullest possible accounting for 
Americans who never came home, supporting our citizen soldiers, the 
Guard and the Reserves, whom we call on increasingly to serve overseas, 
and ensuring that when our men and women in uniform leave the service we 
do not leave them. From education to employment, from buying a home to 
getting quality medical care, our veterans deserve and must have their 
Nation's unfaltering support. For our peace, our freedom, our prosperity 
is surely the legacy of their service.
    Much of this responsibility still falls upon our Federal Government. 
We must uphold the commitment established first by President Franklin 
Roosevelt to give veterans preference for Federal jobs, and we are. Even 
as we shrink the work force of the National Government to its lowest 
level since President Kennedy served here, the percentage of permanent 
jobs in the Government going to our veterans has grown over the last 3 
years.
    We must rally the resources for veterans benefits, and we are. Even 
as we cut Government spending--and my fellow Americans, our annual 
deficit as a percentage of our income is now lower than that of any 
other industrial country in the entire world except for Norway--even as 
we do that, I have sought more than a $1 billion increase in health 
funding for the VA so that we can provide better care for even more 
veterans.
    And even as we enjoy a 15-year high in homeownership among 
Americans, we must not forget that there are too many homeless 
Americans, and an extraordinary percentage of them are veterans. Later 
today, a group of distinguished American entertainers will attempt to 
make America laugh to raise funds and increase awareness of the problems 
of the homeless. And they do it on this Veterans Day to remind us that 
it is a national disgrace that people who are willing to lay down their 
lives for this country do not have a roof over which they will lay down 
their heads tonight. And we must continue to fight that.
    We are committed to active communication with our veterans. We have 
to do more to bring the men in on the decisions that affect their lives. 
We will continue to pursue answers and provide relief for Gulf war 
veterans with unexplained illnesses. Just 3 days ago, we launched a 
major study to help address the concerns of Persian Gulf veterans about 
their health and that of their spouses and their children. And we are 
working hard to meet the special concerns of women veterans, the needs 
of disabled veterans, and the precious debt we owe to veterans' 
families.
    But Government cannot and should not do this job alone. Supporting 
our veterans is not the Government's job; it's America's job. Over the 
last 3 years, I have visited our troops all around the world. I have 
stood in the desert of Kuwait with our vigilant warriors who stopped 
Iraqi aggression this time before it could start. I have met our fliers 
in Ramstein, Germany, who delivered supplies and hope to Bosnia in the 
largest humanitarian airlift of all time. I have visited the men and 
women of Operation Uphold Democracy who ended the terror and turned on 
the lights for the freedom-loving people in Haiti. I have been to Korea, 
where the steady presence of our Americans in uniform has been 
indispensable to our successful efforts to end the nuclear threat and 
maintain the peace there.
    Wherever I go, I see firsthand the dedication, the skill, the 
ingenuity of our men and women in uniform. I see the legacy of World War 
I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the cold war, Desert Storm, all of our 
other encounters, in these young people who get better and better and 
better at what they do.
    Every year, more than 275,000 of these talented Americans finish 
their military service and return to civilian life. The strength they 
bring to our Armed Forces can and indeed must fortify our Nation's 
civilian economy and fiber of civic life. So on this Veterans Day, let 
me urge every employer in America in the public and the private sector 
to tap the invaluable resource of America's veterans, to recognize their 
loyalty and their commitment--after all, they volunteered, sometimes for 
jobs of great danger and risk--

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to recognize their skill, their creativity, their dedication. There are 
so many ways in which we can now say, nobody does it better. America's 
veterans are leaders and winners, and they can help America to compete 
and win. But they must be given the opportunity to serve and to work.
    As we reflect on the challenges that these veterans have met so 
successfully in the recent and in the distant past, my fellow Americans, 
let us today rededicate ourselves to meet the new challenges we face 
today. Because of the work of our veterans, our Nation remains the 
world's strongest force for peace and freedom, for democracy and 
prosperity. And the world is moving in our direction.
    We can be very thankful that on this Veterans Day, for the first 
time since the dawn of the nuclear era, there are no Russian missiles 
pointed at the children of the United States. We can be thankful for 
that.
    But as the painful events of recent days have reminded us, the 
forces of darkness and division have not been destroyed. Threats like 
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; violence rooted in 
ethnic, religious, and racial hatred; organized crime and drug 
trafficking; and especially terrorism call upon us to respond. Just as 
our veterans faced down the threats of a previous era, so now we must 
confront these challenges of this time. Just as Congress and the 
President join in bipartisan spirit over the last 50 years to protect 
our Nation's security, so we must join today.
    I am proud of the work our military is doing in the fight to keep 
illegal drugs out of America and the fight to break the terrible drug 
cartels of the world. I am proud of the work our law enforcement people 
have done here at home and abroad to combat terrorism, from bringing 
terrorists to justice from all across the world to actually stopping 
terrorists plots in the United States before they succeed.
    But as we saw in the World Trade Center and at Oklahoma City and as 
we saw so recently in the tragic, tragic murder of Israel's great leader 
and military hero, Prime Minister Rabin, there is more to be done. 
Giving our officials the tools they need to defeat terrorism is now a 
part of our national security mission, just as maintaining a strong 
national defense is. This matter must be beyond party. All of us must 
rise to the challenge to meet it.
    As we close this commemoration of World War II, let me thank again 
General Kicklighter and all those who helped to make it possible and let 
me urge all of us to summon the spirit that joined that generation that 
stood together and cared for one another. The ideas they fought for are 
now ours to sustain. The dreams they defended are now ours to guarantee. 
In war they crossed racial and religious, sectional and social divisions 
to become one force for freedom.
    Now, in a world where lives are literally being torn apart all over 
the globe by those very divisions, let us again lead by the power of 
example. Let us remember their example. Let us live our motto, E 
Pluribus Unum, from many, one. Let us grow strong together, not be 
divided and weakened. Let us find that common ground for which so many 
have fought and died.
    On this hillside of honor and respects, let us once again humbly 
thank our veterans for answering the call to duty for what they did in 
times of crisis and war and what they did to preserve the peace. Let us 
remain ever grateful for all they have done. And for what we owe them, 
let us never be forgetful. We must and we will meet our obligations and 
secure our future if we remember all of that. My fellow Americans, that 
is our mission, and we must fulfill it.
    Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 11:44 a.m. at the Tomb of the Unknowns at 
Arlington National Cemetery. In his remarks, he referred to Maj. Gen. 
Robert Foley, USA, commanding general, Military District of Washington; 
Joseph Liwack, commander, Polish Legion of American Veterans; and 
General C.M. Kicklighter, chairman, 50th Anniversary of World War II 
Commemorative Committee.