pd05jn95 Digest of Other White House Announcements...

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Volume 31--Number 22
Pages 915-966
 
Week Ending Friday, June 2, 1995
 
Remarks at the Unveiling Ceremony for the POW/MIA Postage Stamp

May 29, 1995

    Thank you very much, Secretary Brown, for your remarks and for your 
service. Postmaster General Runyon, Senator Simpson, Congressman Bishop, 
Secretary and Mrs. West, General and Mrs. Shalikashvili, to the 
distinguished service chiefs who are here, members of the Armed Forces, 
and especially to our veterans on this Memorial Day: We are proud to 
have you all here at the White House and honored to have the opportunity 
to unveil this stamp, which honors the extraordinary sacrifice of 
American prisoners of war and the memory of all those who never came 
home. It will help to ensure that all these Americans who gave so much 
to our freedom are never forgotten.
    We are especially fortunate to have a number of former prisoners of 
war joining us here today. They represent a half-century of commitment 
to the principles that our Nation has stood for throughout the world. 
They embody a level of devotion and service almost unimaginable. And I 
am proud to recognize several of them who are here today.
    Lt. Colonel Charles Prigmore was a young bombardier during World War 
II. On his 14th mission over Germany, his plane was shot down, and he 
spent a year as a POW. Today he is the national commander of the 
American Ex-Prisoners of War. Colonel Prigmore, would you be recognized, 
please? [Applause] Thank you.
    Infantryman Bill Rolen fought at Anzio Beach and helped to liberate 
Rome. During the invasion of southern France he was captured and forced 
to spend the rest of the war in a slave labor camp. Mr. Rolen, welcome. 
[Applause] Thank you.
    When the Philippines were attacked in 1941, Ruby Bradley had already 
been an Army nurse for 7 years. She was captured just days after 
Christmas, and her internment lasted until 1945. Ms. Bradley. [Applause] 
Thank you.
    Robert Fletcher was serving in Korea in 1950 when he was captured. 
He spent nearly 3 years as a prisoner of the North Korean and Chinese 
forces before he finally could return home. Mr. Fletcher. [Applause] 
Thank you.
    Captain Isaac Camacho, a green beret, was captured outside Saigon 
when his camp was overrun in 1963. He endured the jungle prisons of the 
Viet Cong for nearly 2 years and was one of the very few to escape and 
to survive. It is especially appropriate to have him here today because 
he is still a servant of our country; he is the U.S. Postal Service 
station master in El Paso, Texas. Captain Camacho [Applause] Thank you, 
sir.
    And finally, Lt. Colonel Rhonda Cornum is a flight surgeon who 
served in Operation Desert Storm. On a rescue mission in Iraq her 
helicopter was shot down. She was badly injured, with broken arms and a 
gunshot wound, captured by Iraqi forces and held until the end of the 
fighting. Colonel Cornum. [Applause] Thank you.
    Ladies and gentlemen, these and the others who have suffered similar 
fates are American heroes, among the finest and bravest individuals our 
Nation has ever produced. They had to bear hardships but never faltered. 
They inspire us still, and will for generations to come. I am pleased 
now that millions of Americans will be reminded every day of the 
extraordinary service they rendered, and all others like them rendered, 
by this new stamp.
    On this Memorial Day, as every year, we also remember those who 
answered the call but never came home. Their loss is the greatest cost 
our Nation has paid for freedom. We can only imagine the pain their 
families have experienced, the grief that comes with uncertainty, the 
grief that comes with being denied a proper and clear grave. We know 
very well our obligation to them and their families to leave no stone 
unturned as we try to account for their fate and, if possible, to bring 
them home.
    We have worked hard and made good progress. We have put the issue of 
MIA cases ahead of all others in our dealings with Vietnam. And today I 
am proud to say that we are receiving more cooperation from Hanoi than 
ever before.

[[Page 918]]

    A Presidential delegation headed by the Veterans Department Deputy 
Secretary, Hershel Gober, has just returned from Vietnam and Laos, and 
we believe that cooperation with both these nations will continue. Our 
joint investigations are moving forward, and the Vietnamese are turning 
over essential documents. More than 200 sets of remains have been 
returned since I became President. Of the nearly 200 so-called 
discrepancy cases, we have confirmed the fate of all but 55. And we will 
not stop until we have taken every possible step for every MIA and every 
MIA family.
    I want to say a special word of appreciation to all those who have 
participated in this remarkable effort. There is nothing like it in all 
the history of warfare. Never has so much been done to get this kind of 
accounting. I thank the families involved, the veterans groups involved, 
those who have served in the active duty military as a part of this, and 
others who have played critical roles.
    I also thank the Americans who have worked to help the Vietnamese to 
identify their MIA's as well. That, too, is an astonishing development 
in the history of warfare. And the American people are indebted to all 
of you who have played a role in this remarkable endeavor.
    Thanks to our new relationship with Russia, we're also making 
progress on the MIA cases from World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, 
and a number of cold war incidents. The U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on 
POW-MIA's has gained access to thousands of pages of once-classified 
documents, conducted hundreds of interviews in Russia and in the other 
new independent states, received important information about the fate of 
American service personnel.
    Those missing from the war in Korea, along with the MIA's from all 
our Nation's conflicts, will not be forgotten in the heart of America. 
Our work will go forward until we have done all there is to do. We owe 
it to them, to their families, and to our country to work on this until 
the job is done.
    And we must remain true to our entire commitment to stand by all 
those who stood watch for freedom. Whether it is protecting benefits 
that veterans have earned or improving health care or breaking the cycle 
of despair for homeless veterans or confronting the legacy of Agent 
Orange or getting to the bottom of Gulf war-related illnesses, we must 
uphold our solemn obligation to our veterans, not for a few months or 
for a few years but for the entire lifetime of this Nation.

    And we owe it to the legacy of our veterans to protect the national 
security in the future. We are working hard to end the legacy of the 
cold war. The United States and Russia are destroying nuclear arsenals. 
And I am proud that for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear 
age, there are no nuclear weapons pointed at the children of the United 
States of America. I am proud that the United States and Russia joined 
together to secure the indefinite extension of the Non-Proliferation 
Treaty, so that more and more nations will be making and keeping a 
promise not to develop nuclear weapons.

    But we know that we have challenges from other weapons as well, from 
biological and chemical weapons. We must work to contain them. And we 
know that we have the challenge not only of nations that still seek to 
do us and other freedom-loving peoples harm but also from terrorists 
around the world and here at home who would threaten our security and 
our way of life.

    We must stand up to all these security threats as a way of honoring 
those who have sacrificed and served our country. They brought us to 
this point, and we owe it to them to give our children the opportunities 
we have all enjoyed.

    So on this Memorial Day, I say to all of you, we honor the 
sacrifices of those who never came home, the sacrifices of those who 
were imprisoned but came home, the sacrifices of all who gave and all 
who serve. God bless you all, and God bless America.

    And now, for the proper unveiling of this much-deserved stamp, let 
me introduce our very fine Postmaster General, Mr. Marvin Runyon, and 
thank him again for the outstanding job he has done.

    Mr. Runyon.

Note: The President spoke at 9:15 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House.

[[Page 919]]


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
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[Page 919-920]
 
Monday, June 5, 1995
 
Volume 31--Number 22
Pages 915-966
 
Week Ending Friday, June 2, 1995
 
Remarks at a Memorial Day Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia

May 29, 1995

    Thank you very much, Secretary Perry, Secretary Brown, Major General 
Gorden, Chaplain Cottingham, General and Mrs. Shalikashvili and to the 
other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and their wives, to all the 
members of the Armed Forces who are here, and the veterans, especially 
to the POW's and their family members and the family members of MIA's 
whose sacrifice and service we honored today just a few moments ago with 
the unveiling of the special stamp in honor of POW's and MIA's, and of 
course, to Sergeant Major Rodriguez and Mrs. Rodriguez.
    Sergeant Major, if you had known 50 years ago you were going to be 
here today and had 50 years to get ready, you could not have done any 
better job than you did, and we thank you. This fine American was 
decorated by President Roosevelt with the Purple Heart for his action in 
combat on Iwo Jima. He later led an honor guard for President Truman. He 
represents the vital ties to the past that inspires us today, and we 
thank him and all others for their service.
    Today we feel close to that past and to all those who stood fast 
when our freedom was in peril 50 years ago. We remember the valiant 
individuals from all of our wars who fell while defending our Nation. 
They fought so that we might have the freedom which too many of us take 
for granted but, at least on this day, we know is still our greatest 
blessing.
    At this sacred moment, we put aside all that might otherwise divide 
us to recall the honor that these men and women brought to their 
families and their communities and the glory they bestowed upon our 
beloved Nation. All across our great country today, in cities and towns 
great and small, wreaths and flags adorn our cemeteries. Friends and 
family members and those who simply are grateful for their liberties 
will gather for a parade or visit the graves of some of these heroes, 
tell a new generation the stories of how America was kept free and 
strong. We must remember to do justice to their memories. We must 
remember that so we can go forward.
    Especially in this last year, the 50th since World War II, we 
Americans have remembered and paid homage to the generation that fought 
that great struggle in ceremonies in Normandy, at Nettuno Beach in 
Italy, at Cambridge Cemetery in England, the Manila Cemetery in the 
Philippines, the Iwo Jima Memorial here in Arlington, and in Moscow.
    As we look across the gulf of time and look at the veterans of that 
conflict who still are among us, we continue to draw strength from their 
marvelous achievement. We remember anew the indomitable power of free 
men and women united by a just cause.
    Fifty years ago today, the war in Europe was over. American armed 
forces worked to restore order to a wrecked continent, taking charge of 
shattered communities, tending to the survivors of the awful 
concentration camps. But the celebration of victory was short because 
our battle-weary Nation was shifting troops and energies from one 
theater to another. Little was certain. Virtually every household still 
had someone in uniform, and no one could say even then who would 
survive.
    In the Pacific war, fighting raged on in the Philippines. Okinawa, 
the bloodiest battle in the Far East, was already almost 2 months old 
and far, far from over. By the time it ended on June 22, that small 
island would claim the lives of more than 12,000 Americans.
    Still, our forces never faltered. Half a world away from their 
homes, far from their families, they fought for their country, their 
loved ones, and for the ideals that have kept this country going now for 
more than 200 years. They knew their mission was unparalleled in human 
history: to fight for freedom, for democracy, and for human dignity all 
the world over. In those distant places and harrowing times, ordinary 
people performed extraordinary deeds.
    Many who fell there are now here in Arlington, in this hallowed 
ground. We come here to honor their sacrifice, to give them thanks for 
safeguarding our homes and our liberties, and for giving us another 50 
years of freedom. But we also come here because we understand what they 
fought for. Here,

[[Page 920]]

among the dead, in the perfect rows of stone, we see the life of America 
for which they sacrificed so much.
    Four graves around here today tell a good story. Right over there, 
down Grant Drive, is the grave of Colonel Justice Chambers of the United 
States Marine Corps Reserve. For his extraordinary courage in taking 
vital high ground during the landing on Iwo Jima, he was awarded the 
Congressional Medal of Honor. Just next to him lies Lieutenant Commander 
Barbara Allen Rainey. She was the mother of two daughters and the Navy's 
first female aviator. She died in a plane crash in 1982. Further down 
the walk lies the grave of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., known 
throughout the world as the first person ever to fly over the North 
Pole. And next to him lies General Daniel ``Chappie'' James, a Tuskegee 
Airman who flew nearly 200 combat missions, a pilot in Korea and Vietnam 
as well. He rose through the ranks to become the first African-American 
four-star general.
    These four were very different in race and gender, service and 
generation. But they were united in their service to America. Together, 
their lives are proof of perhaps our greatest American truth: that a 
nation of many really can be brought forth as one. Together, they show 
the tremendous strength that not only our Armed Forces but our entire 
Nation has drawn from our remarkable diversity. They remind us of the 
riches our democracy creates by bringing the benefits of liberty to all 
Americans, regardless of their race or gender or station in life. They 
remind us of why so many have sacrificed so much for the American idea.
    Today, more than ever, we rededicate ourselves to the vision for 
which they live. Generations before ours met challenges to democracy and 
freedom, defeated the threats of fascism and communism, and now it is 
for us to rise to the new challenges posed by the forces of darkness and 
disintegration in this age at home and abroad.
    In an uncertain world, we still know we must maintain armed forces 
that are the best-trained, best-equipped, and best-prepared in the 
world. That is the surest guarantee of our security and the surest 
guarantee that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past, when America 
disarmed encouraged people to abuse the decent liberties we all are 
willing to fight for.
    Now, we must finish the security work of the last 50 years by ending 
the nuclear threat once and for all. I am very proud of the fact, and I 
know all of you are, that today, we and the Russians are destroying the 
weapons of our nuclear arsenal and that for the first time since the 
dawn of the nuclear age, no Russian missiles are pointed at the people 
of the United States of America.
    I am proud of the fact that the nations of the world recently voted 
to extend indefinitely the Non-Proliferation Treaty and that Russia and 
the other states of the former Soviet Union and the United States were 
on the same side, asking countries to forswear ever developing nuclear 
weapons.
    I know we have more to do in trying to stem the proliferation of 
biological and chemical weapons and to defeat the forces of terrorism 
around the world. No free country is immune from them. But we can do 
this, and we must.
    In honor of all those who have fallen, from the dawn of our Nation 
to this moment, we resolve to uphold not only their memories but their 
ideals: the vision of America, free and strong, conferring the benefits 
of our beloved land on all our citizens. They sacrificed so that we 
could do this.
    Our debt is, therefore, to continue freedom's never-ending work, to 
build a Nation worthy of all those who fell for it, to pass to coming 
generations all that we have inherited and enjoyed. This must be our 
common purpose: to make sure all Americans are able to make the most of 
their freedoms and their God-given abilities and still, still, to 
reaffirm our conviction that we are, from many, one.

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