[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 23 (Monday, June 7, 2004)]
[Page 969]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

May 29, 2004

    Good morning. Monday is Memorial Day, and all across America this 
weekend, people are remembering those who fought for freedom and who 
gave their lives in service to their country.
    Here in the Nation's Capital, Saturday has a special significance as 
we dedicate the World War II Memorial in the presence of thousands of 
veterans of that conflict. When it mattered most, an entire generation 
of Americans stepped forward to fight evil and show the finest qualities 
of our Nation and of humanity.
    The World War II Memorial will stand forever as a tribute to the 
generation that fought that war and to the more than 400,000 Americans 
who gave their lives. Because of their sacrifice, tyrants fell; fascism 
and nazism were vanquished; and freedom prevailed.
    Today, freedom faces new enemies, and a new generation of Americans 
has stepped forward to defeat them. Since the hour this Nation was 
attacked on September the 11th, 2001, we have seen the character of the 
men and women who wear our country's uniform. In places like Kabul and 
Kandahar, Mosul and Baghdad, we have seen their decency and brave 
spirit. And because of their fierce courage, America is safer, and two 
terror regimes are gone forever, and more than 50 million souls now live 
in freedom.
    Our mission continues, and we will see it through to victory. We 
have a strategy to defeat our terrorist enemy and a plan to help 
establish lasting freedom in Iraq. The stakes are high, and they are 
clear. The enemy seeks to establish a new haven for terror and violence 
at the heart of the Middle East. They seek to force free nations to 
retreat into isolation and fear, yet we will persevere and defeat this 
enemy and hold this hard-won ground for the realm of liberty.
    Those who have fought the battles of the war on terror and served 
the cause of freedom can be proud of all they have achieved. And these 
veterans of battle will carry with them for all their days the memory of 
the ones who did not live to be called veterans. Each man or woman we 
have laid to rest had hopes for the future and left a place that can 
never be filled. Each was the most important person in someone's life. 
For their families there is terrible sorrow, and we pray for their 
comfort. For the Nation there is a feeling of loss, and we remember each 
name.
    Through our history, America has gone to war reluctantly because we 
have known the costs of war. And in every generation, it is the best 
among us who are called to pay that price. Those who have paid those 
costs have given us every moment we live in freedom, and every living 
American is in their debt. We can never repay what they gave for this 
country, but on this holiday, we acknowledge the debt by showing our 
respect and gratitude.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 1:45 p.m. on May 28 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 29. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
May 28 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of 
the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this 
address.