[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 33 (Monday, August 17, 1998)]
[Pages 1622-1623]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Memorial Service for Victims of the Embassy Bombings in 
Kenya and Tanzania at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland

August 13, 1998

    To the members of the families here, Secretary Albright, Secretary 
Cohen, members of the Cabinet, Members of Congress, leaders of the Armed 
Forces, members of the diplomatic corps, friends, and we say a special 
appreciation to the representatives here from Kenya and Tanzania.
    Every person here today would pray not to be here. But we could not 
be anywhere else, for we come to honor 12 proud sons and daughters who 
perished half a world away but never left America behind, who carried 
with them the love of their families, the respect of their countrymen, 
and above all, the ideals for which America stands. They perished in the 
service of the country for which they gave so much in life.
    To their families and friends, the rest of your fellow Americans 
have learned a little bit about your loved ones in the past few days. Of 
course, we will never know them as you did or remember them as you will, 
as a new baby, a proud graduate, a beaming bride or groom, a reassuring 
voice on the phone from across the ocean, a tired but happy traveler at 
an airport, bags stuffed with gifts, arms outstretched. Nothing can 
bring them back, but nothing can erase the lives they led, the 
difference they made, the joy they brought.
    We can only hope that even in grief you can take pride and solace in 
the gratitude all the rest of us have for the service they gave.
    The men and women who serve in our Embassies all around this world 
do hard work that is not always fully appreciated and not even 
understood by many of their fellow Americans. They protect our interests 
and promote our values abroad. They are diplomats and doctors and 
drivers, bookkeepers and technicians and military guards. Far from home, 
they endure hardships, often at great risk.
    These 12 Americans came from diverse backgrounds. If you see their 
pictures, you know they are a portrait of America today and of America's 
tomorrow. But as different as they were, each of them had an adventurous 
spirit, a generous soul. Each relished the chance to see the world and 
to make it better.
    They were: a senior diplomat I had the honor to meet twice, and his 
son, who proudly worked alongside him this summer; a budget officer, a 
wife and mother who had just spent her vacation caring for her aged 
parents; a State Department worker who looked forward to being back home 
with her new grandson; a Foreign Service officer born in India who 
became an American citizen and traveled the world with her family for 
her new country; a Marine sergeant, the son of very proud parents; an 
Air Force sergeant

[[Page 1623]]

who followed in her own father's footsteps; an epidemiologist who loved 
her own children and worked to save Africa's children from disease and 
death; an Embassy administrator who married a Kenyan and stayed in close 
touch with her children back in America; a Foreign Service officer and 
mother of three children, including a baby girl; a Foreign Service 
member who was an extraordinarily accomplished jazz musician and devoted 
husband; an Army sergeant, a veteran of the Gulf war, a husband, a 
father, who told his own father that if anything ever happened to him, 
he wanted his ashes scattered in the Pacific off Big Sur because that 
was where he had met his beloved wife.
    What one classmate said to me of his friend today we can say of all 
of them: They were what America is all about.
    We also remember today the Kenyans and Tanzanians who have suffered 
great loss. We are grateful for your loved ones who worked alongside us 
in our Embassies. And we are grateful for your extraordinary efforts in 
great pain in the wake of this tragedy. We pray for the speedy recovery 
of all the injured, Americans and Africans alike.
    No matter what it takes, we must find those responsible for these 
evil acts and see that justice is done. There may be more hard road 
ahead, for terrorists target America because we act and stand for peace 
and democracy, because the spirit of our country is the very spirit of 
freedom. It is the burden of our history and the bright hope of the 
world's future.
    We must honor the memory of those we mourn today by pressing the 
cause of freedom and justice for which they lived. We must continue to 
stand strong for freedom on every continent. America will not retreat 
from the world and all its promise, nor shrink from our responsibility 
to stand against terror and with the friends of freedom everywhere. We 
owe it to those we honor today.
    As it is written: ``Their righteous deeds have not been forgotten. 
Their glory will not be blotted out. Their bodies were buried in peace, 
but their names shall live forever.''
    Sergeant Jesse Nathan Aliganga.
    Julian Bartley, Sr.
    Julian Bartley, Jr.
    Jean Dalizu.
    Molly Huckaby Hardy.
    Sergeant Kenneth Hobson.
    Prabhi Guptara Kavaler.
    Arlene Kirk.
    Dr. Mary Louise Martin.
    Ann Michelle O'Connor.
    Senior Master Sergeant Sherry Lynn Olds.
    Uttamlal ``Tom'' Shah.
    May they find peace in the warm embrace of God. And may God give 
peace to those who loved them, and bless their beloved country.

Note: The President spoke at 11:20 a.m. at Hangar 3. The transcript made 
available by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks 
of Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright.