Honoring The Brave Veterans Of World War II
September 2, 1945, marked the end of World War II. Sixty years later, we pay tribute to those modest American heroes who 60 years ago saved the world. Millions of Americans today call these heroes "Dad," and I am proud to be among them. What follows is a speech I gave at a celebration at the Maine World War II Memorial in Bangor.
"I am honored to join in celebrating the anniversary of this great American victory with many of Maine's World War II veterans. The wonderful turnout and the amazing support from businesses and individual citizens across the region in providing meals, transportation, walking sticks, and flags prove that those we honor today will never be forgotten. Like the church bells that ring throughout our city today, their courage and sacrifice continue to resonate.
"And a special thank you to the man who made this day possible. Galen Cole defines the best of our nation and our state. As a young man during the Second World War, he served his country heroically in an armored division in Europe. Then he came home and served his community, raising a family, building a business, and developing such worthwhile projects as the Maine World War II Memorial. He does these things modestly and quietly but with great conviction and commitment. He is a member of what is called the Greatest Generation, and he adds to its greatness.
"On the morning of September 2nd, 1945, World War II officially came to an end. The ceremony aboard the battleship USS Missouri was brief, barely 18 minutes long. The low-key, formal nature of the event stood in stark contrast to the unprecedented horror and violence of the preceding years, years in which the fate of civilization itself hung in the balance.
"It is said that crisis builds character. For an entire generation of Americans, crisis did not build character; it revealed it. With the perfect hindsight history books provide, the Second World War can seem today to be a series of events that followed an inevitable course from Pearl Harbor to Normandy to Iwo Jima to the deck of the Missouri. Yet those who were there, those who made that history, know that the outcome was far from certain. All that stood between civilization and the abyss of tyranny was their courage, their faith, and their devotion to duty.
"As the war began, the United States was not a rich or powerful country. We had only the 17th largest army in the world. Our industries were still struggling to overcome a decade of economic depression. With two great oceans as a buffer, many Americans thought the answer to aggression was isolationism.
"Yet when the crisis came, Americans responded. More than 16 million American men put on the uniforms of our armed forces. More than 400,000 died wearing those uniforms. Thousands of American women also put on the uniform, serving – and dying -- in field hospitals and in such dangerous work as ferrying aircraft from production plant to airfield. They rolled up their sleeves and turned the factories of a peacetime economy into the arsenal of democracy. Throughout the country, Americans of all ages worked and saved and rationed and sacrificed as never before. Families planted victory gardens -- 20 million of them, producing 40 percent of the nation''s vegetables in backyards and on rooftops. Two out of every three citizens put money into war bonds.
"Our enemies disparaged America's entry into the war. They saw us as a soft, frivolous, self-indulgent people who would not rise to the challenge. Americans responded with a resolve that was far stronger than the will of any dictator. As our commander-in-chief, President Franklin Roosevelt, said in one of his radio addresses, ‘We have been described as a nation of weaklings, playboys. Let them tell that to General McArthur and his men. Let them tell that to the boys in the Flying Fortresses. Let them tell that to the Marines.'
"Our soldiers, airmen, sailors, Marines, and members of the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine did not come from a society steeped in militarism and the lust for conquest. Whether they came from our great cities, the Great Plains, or the farms and fishing villages of Maine, they came from places that desired peace and that cherished freedom. When the crisis came, the American character bound them together in a great common cause on behalf of humanity. They were not angels, but they did the work of angels.
"They have great stories to tell, and I know we all appreciate the efforts by Galen and so many others to keep those stories alive. As long as Americans listen to those stories and learn from them, America will remain free and the greatest defender of freedom for others.
"Your stories are unique. I know that whenever you reunite to share them, your thoughts inevitably turn to the comrades you served with but who did not return home. These bittersweet memories are, I think, best summed up by the great journalist Ernie Pyle, who shared your lives in combat, and who lost his life while doing so. In his book, "Here Is Your War," he described World War II this way. It is a picture, he wrote, ‘of tired and dirty soldiers, who are alive and don''t want to die; of long, darkened convoys in the middle of the night; of shocked, silent men wandering back down the hill from battle; of Jeeps and petrol dumps and smelly bedding rolls and C-rations; and blown bridges and dead mules and hospital tents and shirt collars greasy-black from months of wearing; and of laughter, too, and anger, and wine, and lovely flowers and constant cussing. All these, it is composed of; and of graves and graves and graves.'
"We are here today not just to celebrate a moment in history, and the courage that made that moment possible. We also are here to celebrate the legacy of that courage.
"The end of World War II did not end tyranny and oppression. Since that brief ceremony in Tokyo Bay, other generations of Americans have followed your footsteps. Whether those footsteps have led to Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, the Balkans, Afghanistan, or Iraq, they have served freedom's cause with valor, compassion, and devotion to duty. Like you, they wear the uniform not of the conqueror, but of the liberator. Your great victory 60 years ago was not merely a single great event, but the affirmation of a great truth.
"The Greatest Generation provided all of us who came later with an inspiring view from their strong shoulders. From that vantage point, we learned that the burden of service must be borne willingly, and with modesty. We learned that challenges must be met and threats must be confronted. We who came later have an obligation to take those lessons to heart, and to provide strong shoulders for the generations to come.
"Thank you to all our veterans."
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