[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 22 (Monday, June 5, 2000)]
[Pages 1244-1246]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Memorial Day Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia

May 29, 2000

    Thank you very much. Secretary Cohen, thank you for your kind 
remarks and for your leadership. General Ivany, Superintendent Metzler, 
Colonel Durham, Secretary West, Secretary Slater, General Shelton and 
the Joint Chiefs, General McCaffrey, Members of Congress and the 
diplomatic corps, veterans and family members, members of the Armed 
Services, members of the Armed Services who gave their lives for our 
country, my fellow Americans.
    We are blessed again today, together again in this magnificent 
amphitheater in our National Cemetery, to remember our fallen heroes. We 
honor, as well, all the proud veterans who would have made the same 
sacrifice if God had but called His heroes home in a different order.
    As you entered the grounds this morning, you saw every gravestone 
decorated with an American flag. Indeed, this day of remembrance was 
first known as Decoration Day, launched in 1868 by the Commander in 
Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic who designated this day for 
decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country. 
Some still mark this holiday in the same way.
    On Thursday before Memorial Day, this year and every year for more 
than 40 years now, the entire regiment of 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. 
Infantry has honored America's fallen heroes by placing American flags 
before every single one of the more than 260,000 gravestones here at 
Arlington; then remaining on patrol 24 hours a day all weekend long to 
make sure each flag remains standing.
    All across our country in small towns and large cities, veterans 
groups represented here today perform the same sacred ritual. I want to 
recognize and thank the members of the Old Guard and the veterans all 
across America for their patriotism, devotion, and commitment to 
honoring the original meaning of Memorial Day. I thank them very, very 
much.
    Arlington's hallowed earth embraces the bodies of service men and 
women from every one of our Nation's wars. Every generation has borne a 
share of the burden of defending the Republic and giving to each 
succeeding generation the chance for freedom. Presidents Kennedy and 
Taft are buried here. Generals Pershing and Bradley are buried here. 
Admirals Halsey and Rickover are buried here, as are John Foster Dulles 
and Oliver Wendell Holmes, George Marshall and Audie Murphy.
    Three of the Marines we remember forever for raising our flag on Iwo 
Jima--they are buried here. And of course, all the unknown, unsung 
heroes of more than two centuries of fighting tyranny are buried here. 
This is sacred soil and the heart and the history of America.
    Our hearts go out today especially to those our departed veterans 
left behind, the young women who had to cancel a wedding, young mothers 
who raised their children alone, mothers and fathers who faced perhaps 
life's greatest heartbreak. To all the families who have placed a gold 
star in their window, I renew our Nation's enduring pledge: The United 
States will always honor and never forsake its fallen heroes. We will 
not abandon their families. And wherever it takes, as long as it takes, 
we will keep our commitment to seek the fullest possible accounting.
    This morning we were honored to receive at the White House the sons 
and daughters and spouses of servicemen still missing in action. There 
is no more compelling way to understand how important our continuous 
efforts are to the hearts and minds of Americans than to hear it from 
family members themselves. And that is why I am pleased to announce to 
you today that the United States and North Korea have agreed to resume 
the talks the first week of June in Kuala Lumpur in hopes of resuming 
recovery operations in North Korea this year.
    As we prepare to observe the 50th anniversary of the beginning of 
the Korean war, on June 25th, we reaffirm our commitment to the more 
than 1.7 million Americans who served in Korea, the more than 36,000 who 
lost their lives there, and the more than 8,100 still missing.
    I also want to tell you today about the latest American soldier to 
come home. Just last week our team of specialists identified finally

[[Page 1245]]

and officially the remains of a soldier of the 1st Calvary Regiment of 
the Americal division, whose Huey helicopter was flying in the weeds at 
25 feet over Laos in the summer of 1970 when it lost power and crashed. 
The young soldier died immediately. When others rushed to the scene to 
bring his body out, they were forced back by enemy fire. When they tried 
again a short time later, they were again forced back. But finally, 
America returned to recover its own.
    Years later, with the help of several governments, extensive 
interviews, excavations, and DNA testing, a positive identification was 
made. Army Specialist 4 John E. Crowley, of Williamson, New York, 
forever 20 years old, was laid to rest here in Arlington Cemetery on 
Friday in a simple ceremony attended by his mother, brother, cousins, 
nieces, and nephews. For the life and service of Specialist Crowley, for 
the sacrifice of his family and every family that has suffered such 
loss, America is eternally grateful.
    We are also grateful for the many groups like Rolling Thunder, who 
come to Washington to advocate for our POW/MIA families. We hear you. We 
certainly hear Rolling Thunder when they're here. [Laughter] We welcome 
you, and we are honored to work with you.
    To preserve the peace, we must never forget the sacrifices that have 
paved the way to peace. Four years ago, Carmella LaSpada, a longtime 
advocate for families who have lost a loved one in conflict, asked a 
group of school children what Memorial Day means. And the children said, 
that's the day the pool opens. [Laughter] Well, that's not their fault 
that that was their answer. We adults must do more to teach them.
    That's why Carmella worked with Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Douglass and 
so many of you here today to launch a new national commitment to put 
``memorial'' back in Memorial Day. So today, for the third straight 
year, I ask all Americans, in a profoundly symbolic and important act of 
national unity, to pause, wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time, to 
observe a national moment of remembrance for America's fallen heroes.
    At that time, the somber tones of ``Taps,'' our national requiem, 
will be played all across America and beyond, in the U.S. Capitol, in 
the Vietnam Memorial, at Ellis Island and the Liberty Bell, in VA 
hospitals and national parks, on Voice of America and Armed Forces 
Network, and in hundreds of places we Americans will be gathering today. 
When little boys and girls turn to their parents and whisper, ``Mommy, 
Daddy, what's happening?'' a new generation of Americans will have a 
chance to hear about the defenders of freedom.
    As we remember their sacrifice, as Secretary Cohen so eloquently 
pointed out, we must also resolve to fulfill the obligation the rest of 
us incurred with their sacrifice, to keep America free and strong. If 
those who fought and died for us could talk to us on this Memorial Day, 
they might well ask, ``America, have you made our sacrifice matter?'' At 
the dawn of a new century, Americans can answer that question with 
solemn pride. Today, we are fortunate to be the most powerful and 
prosperous nation on Earth, with a military respected around the world. 
We could say, ``Yes, America has made your sacrifice matter.''
    America is at peace. And the risk of war that would scar the lives 
of a whole generation has been vastly reduced. Yes, America has made 
your sacrifice matter. You fought for freedom in foreign lands, knowing 
it would protect our freedom at home. Today, freedom advances all around 
the world, and for the first time in all human history, more than half 
the world's people choose their own leaders. Yes, America has made your 
sacrifice matter.
    You fought to conquer tyranny and bring unity to Europe, where more 
than 100,000 American heroes are now buried. You gave your lives in 
places like Flanders Field and Normandy. But today, Europe is more 
united, more free, more peaceful than anytime in history. We have three 
new allies in NATO and many new partners across Europe's old cold war 
divide. Central Europe is free and flourishing. Soldiers from almost 
every European country, the most bitter former adversaries among them, 
now serve under a single command, keeping the peace in Bosnia, in 
Kosovo. Yes, America is making your sacrifice matter.
    We have more to do. Later today I will leave for Europe to meet with 
our partners

[[Page 1246]]

in the European Union in Portugal and to make the first visit of an 
American President to Berlin as the capital of a free and undivided 
Germany. We will continue our work with our European allies for peace 
and freedom--to make their sacrifice matter.
    I will visit Russia, the former adversary with whom we are trying so 
hard to build a new partnership and a safer world. Russia has just seen 
its first transition from one democratically elected government to 
another in 1,000 years of history. For the first time an American 
President will speak to a democratically elected Russian Parliament. As 
we support those changes, we will continue to push for greater and 
deeper ones--to make their sacrifice matter.
    I will go to Ukraine, a large country with over 60 million people, 
struggling to cast off the bitter legacy of communism; located in a 
strategic place that will determine much of the future of the 21st 
century; to support those who favor freedom and prosperity and 
stability--to make their sacrifice matter.
    The world of today would not be recognized by those who lived at the 
beginning of the cold war. Old adversaries have become allies; 
dictatorships have become democracies; Europe is more peaceful and 
united; the communism we fought to contain has collapsed, reformed, or 
been discredited around the world.
    Heartened by our progress toward peace and prosperity, we will 
pursue the two remaining challenges in fulfilling the age-old vision of 
a Europe peaceful, democratic, and undivided: bringing southeastern 
Europe and the former states of the Soviet Union into the community of 
democracies.
    On this first Memorial Day of the 21st century, the eighth and last 
Memorial Day I have had the honor to address the people of this country 
in this place as President, I give thanks to all those who have stood 
their ground to defend freedom and democracy and human dignity, and 
especially to those and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice.
    Americans never fought for empires, for territory, for dominance, 
but many, many Americans gave their lives for freedom. As we stand at 
the dawn of a new century they never saw but did so much to guarantee 
for us, far from fading into the past, their sacrifice is paving the way 
to our future.
    Thirty, forty, fifty years after our fallen veterans have gone, we 
can say, ``Glory! Hallelujah! Your truth is marching on.'' May God bless 
you all, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 11:30 a.m. in the Amphitheater at Arlington 
National Cemetery. In his remarks, he referred to Maj. Gen. Robert R. 
Ivany, USA, Commanding General, U.S. Army Military District of 
Washington; John C. (Jack) Metzler, superintendent, Arlington National 
Cemetery; and Col. Michael Durham, USA, Command Chaplain, Military 
District of Washington; Carmella LaSpada, founder, No Greater Love, and 
events coordinator for the National Moment of Remembrance; and Lt. Col. 
Jeff Douglass, USMC, liaison, National Moment of Remembrance.