[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 42 (Monday, October 23, 2000)]
[Pages 2507-2509]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Memorial Service for the U.S.S. Cole in Norfolk, Virginia

October 18, 2000

    The President. Secretary Cohen; General Reno; Secretary Danzig; 
General Shelton; distinguished Members of the Senate and

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House; Governor; Admiral Clark; Admiral Natter; Chaplain Black; Master 
Chief Herdt; Master Chief Hefty; the sailors of the U.S.S. Cole; the 
family members and friends; the Norfolk naval community; my fellow 
Americans. Today we honor our finest young people, fallen soldiers who 
rose to freedom's challenge. We mourn their loss, celebrate their lives, 
offer the love and prayers of a grateful nation to their families.
    For those of us who have to speak here, we are all mindful of the 
limits of our poor words to lift your spirits or warm your hearts. We 
know that God has given us the gift of reaching our middle years. And we 
now have to pray for your children, your husbands, your wives, your 
brothers, your sisters who were taken so young. We know we will never 
know them as you did or remember them as you will, the first time you 
saw them in uniform or the last time you said goodbye.
    They all had their own stories and their own dreams. We Americans 
have learned something about each and every one of them over these last 
difficult days as their profiles, their lives, their loves, their 
service have been given to us. For me, I learned a little more when I 
met with all the families this morning.
    Some follow the family tradition of Navy service; others hoped to 
use their service to earn a college degree. One of them had even worked 
for me in the White House: Richard Costelow was a technology wizard who 
helped to update the White House communications system for this new 
century.
    All these very different Americans, all with their different 
stories, their lifelines and love ties, answered the same call of 
service and found themselves on the U.S.S. Cole, headed for the Persian 
Gulf, where our forces are working to keep peace and stability in a 
region that could explode and disrupt the entire world.
    Their tragic loss reminds us that even when America is not at war, 
the men and women of our military still risk their lives for peace. I am 
quite sure history will record in great detail our triumphs in battle, 
but I regret that no one will ever be able to write a full account of 
the wars we never fought, the losses we never suffered, the tears we 
never shed because men and women like those who were on the U.S.S. Cole 
were standing guard for peace. We should never, ever forget that.
    Today I ask all Americans just to take a moment to thank the men and 
women of our Armed Forces for a debt we can never repay, whose character 
and courage, more than even modern weapons, makes our military the 
strongest in the world. And in particular, I ask us to thank God today 
for the lives, the character, and courage of the crew of the U.S.S. 
Cole, including the wounded and especially those we lost or are missing: 
Hull Maintenance Technician Third Class Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter; 
Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer First Class Richard Costelow; 
Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis; Information 
Systems Technician Seaman Timothy Lee Gauna; Signalman Seaman Apprentice 
Cherone Louis Gunn; Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels; Engineman Second 
Class Mark Ian Nieto; Electronics Warfare Technician Third Class Ronald 
Scott Owens; Seaman Apprentice Lakiba Nicole Palmer; Engine Fireman 
Joshua Langdon Parlett; Fireman Apprentice Patrick Howard Roy; 
Electronics Warfare Technician Second Class Kevin Shawn Rux; Mess 
Management Specialist Third Class Ronchester Manangan Santiago; 
Operations Specialist Second Class Timothy Lamont Saunders; Fireman Gary 
Graham Swenchonis, Jr; Ensign Andrew Triplett; Seaman Apprentice Craig 
Bryan Wibberley.
    In the names and faces of those we lost and mourn, the world sees 
our Nation's greatest strength: people in uniform rooted in every race, 
creed, and region on the face of the Earth, yet bound together by a 
common commitment to freedom and a common pride in being American. That 
same spirit is living today as the crew of the U.S.S. Cole pulls 
together in a determined struggle to keep the determined warrior afloat.
    The idea of common humanity and unity amidst diversity, so purely 
embodied by those we mourn today, must surely confound the minds of the 
hate-filled terrorists who killed them. They envy our strength without 
understanding the values that give us strength. For for them, it is 
their way or no way; their interpretation, twisted though it may be, of 
a beautiful religious tradition;

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their political views, their racial and ethnic views; their way or no 
way.
    Such people can take innocent life. They have caused your tears and 
anguish, but they can never heal or build harmony or bring people 
together. That is work only free, law-abiding people can do. People like 
the sailors of the U.S.S. Cole.
    To those who attacked them, we say: You will not find a safe harbor. 
We will find you, and justice will prevail. America will not stop 
standing guard for peace or freedom or stability in the Middle East and 
around the world.
    But some way, someday, people must learn the lesson of the lives of 
those we mourn today, of how they worked together, of how they lived 
together, of how they reached across all the lines that divided them and 
embraced their common humanity and the common values of freedom and 
service.
    Not far from here, there is a quiet place that honors those who gave 
their lives in service to our country. Adorning its entrance are words 
from a poem by Archibald Macleish, not only a tribute to the young we 
lost but a summons to those of us left behind. Listen to them.

      The young no longer speak, but:

      They have a silence that speaks for them at night.

      They say: We were young. Remember us.

      They say: We have done what we could, but until it is finished, it 
      is not done.

      They say: Our deaths are not ours; they are yours; they will mean 
      what you make them.

      They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a 
      new hope, we cannot say; it is you who must say this.

      They say: We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.

    The lives of the men and women we lost on the U.S.S. Cole meant so 
much to those who loved them, to all Americans, to the cause of freedom. 
They have given us their deaths. Let us give them their meaning. Their 
meaning of peace and freedom, of reconciliation and love, of service, 
endurance, and hope. After all they have given us, we must give them 
their meaning.
    I ask now that you join me in a moment of silence and prayer for the 
lost, the missing, and their grieving families.

[At this point, those gathered observed a moment of silence.]

    The President. Amen.
    Thank you, and may God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 11:38 a.m. on Pier 12. In his remarks, he 
referred to Gov. James S. Gilmore III of Virginia; Adm. Barry C. Black, 
USN, Chief of Chaplains, U.S. Navy, who gave the invocation; Master 
Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James L. Herdt, USN; Master Chief Thomas 
B. Hefty, USN, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Master Chief. The transcript released 
by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Adm. 
Robert J. Natter, USN, Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Adm. 
Vern Clark, USN, Chief of Naval Operations; Secretary of the Navy 
Richard Danzig; Gen. Henry H. Shelton, USA, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of 
Staff; and Secretary of Defense William Cohen.