Petrified Truth

"A Tradition of Heroes"

Today is Armed Forces Day.

On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense. Each of the military leagues and orders was asked to drop sponsorship of its specific service day in order to celebrate the newly announced Armed Forces Day. The Army, Navy and Air Force leagues adopted the newly formed day. The Marine Corps League declined to drop support for Marine Corps Day but supports Armed Forces Day, too.

In a speech announcing the formation of the day, President Truman "praised the work of the military services at home and across the seas" and said, "it is vital to the security of the nation and to the establishment of a desirable peace."

The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated by parades, open houses, receptions, and air shows. In Washington D.C., 10,000 troops of all branches of the military, cadets, and veterans marched pass the President and his party. In Berlin, 1,000 U.S. troops paraded for the German citizens at Templehof Airfield. In New York City, an estimated 33,000 participants initiated Armed Forces Day "under an air cover of 250 military planes of all types." In the harbors across the country were the famed mothballed "battlewagons" of World War II, the Missouri, the New Jersey, the North Carolina, and the Iowa, all open for public inspection. Precision flying teams dominated the skies as tracking radar were exhibited on the ground. All across the country, the American people joined together to honor the Armed Forces.

Said The New York Times on May 17, 1952 (before it began to work so often against American interests):

"This is the day on which we have the welcome opportunity to pay special tribute to the men and women of the Armed Forces ... to all the individuals who are in the service of their country all over the world. Armed Forces Day won't be a matter of parades and receptions for a good many of them. They will all be in line of duty and some of them may give their lives in that duty.

"It is our most earnest hope that those who are in positions of peril, that those who have made exceptional sacrifices, yes, and those who are afflicted with plain drudgery and boredom, may somehow know that we hold them in exceptional esteem. Perhaps if we are a little more conscious of our debt of honored affection they may be a little more aware of how much we think of them."

Not timed to coincide with Armed Forces Day, SecDef Donald Rumsfeld spoke to the troops in Baghdad this week. As so often, he was heartfelt and even eloquent.

You folks have helped to liberate 25 million human beings. You've also performed any number of acts of kindness, generosity and compassion to the Iraqi people that you've met, that you've worked with. I know you have security responsibilities to be sure, but I'm told that you folks have also trained new members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps; you've built playgrounds and a sports complex; you've improved local health clinics; and you're showing the Iraqi people and, indeed, the people of the world who will look, the character of the country that we're from and the character of the men and women in the armed services.

In recent days there's been a focus on a few who have betrayed our valued and -- values and sullied the reputation of our country. Like each of you I'm sure, and like most Americans, I was stunned. It was a body blow. And with six or seven investigations under way and a country that has values and a military justice system that has values, we know that those involved, whoever they are, will be brought to justice. And we've spent the day talking to people and seeing the steps that have been taken to see that those types of abuses to people for whom we have responsibility and custody will not happen again.

But it's important for each of you to know that that is not the values of America and it's not your values. And I know that and you know that and your families know that. And we're proud of you, each of you. We're proud of your service. We know each of you is here because you volunteered to serve your country. You said that that is important to you, and it's important to our country that we have the freedom that we all enjoy.

You know, the American men and women in uniform over the decades, they helped to defeat Germany and Japan in World War II and then helped to rebuild them; they've helped with the folks in Bosnia and Kosovo, and some of you have undoubtedly been involved in that; they're currently helping people in Liberia and in Haiti; and they understand America and our values. The people of the world understand that also.

We hear a lot of criticism in the press, but the fact of the matter is that people every year line up to come to the United States of America. They want to become American citizens, and the reason they do is because they know, as Abraham Lincoln said, that the United States is the last best hope of humankind.

I've stopped reading the newspapers. (Laughter, cheers, applause.)

It's a fact: I'm a survivor. (Cheers, applause.)

And instead, I've been reading a book about Ulysses S. Grant and the Civil War and the challenges that our country faced during that period. And of course, there are enormous differences between that conflict and this conflict. But I was constantly struck as I each evening -- and indeed, coming over on the plane I spent some time reading the book. In that conflict there were casualties that were just horrendous. There were battles, several battles, where a thousand, 2,000, 3,000, were lost in two or three days.

Back then the debate was vigorous; indeed, I would say vicious. Politicians were saying things about each other and about the conflict that were almost unprintable. Editorials were written that were critical of everything. I guess that's what editorial writers do. There were no e-mails or telephones to be used back in those days, but there were soldiers' diaries and letters, and letters from home. And it was interesting to read them.

There were questions -- honest questions -- by the politicians, by the editorial writers, by the families. Can we win? Is it worth it? Those are big questions. And you could see that the back and forth and the heartfelt concern and the questions and the unbelievable criticism of Abraham Lincoln, and indeed the criticism of generals on both sides -- but they were steadfast. And those veterans, when they looked back on that conflict and saw a nation that was together, a single nation, a union, they knew they had been part of something really big. And it had been worth it.

You folks are young. I'm not. (Laughter.) But you're going to look back on this conflict, on these debates, on these difficulties, and it's going to be a tough road ahead. We know that.

It's not going to be an easy path from a repressive dictatorship to a stable, prosperous, successful country that respects all of the various religious and ethnic groups, that's at peace with its neighbors, that understands what human rights are. That's not an easy path, it's a tough path. And there will be plenty of potholes in the road, and mistakes will get made, and people will have to be picked up and put back on that path towards a freer system. But one day you're going to look back and you're going to be proud of your service, and you're going to say it was worth it.

Thank you very much. (Cheers, applause.)

Damn right.

Posted by Alan at May 15, 2004 01:33 AM