Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. In the presence of so many who have sacrificed so much, I am humbled. There is no group of people that I hold in higher regard than veterans. Because of you veterans, we live in the greatest, freest, strongest country in the world. Throughout history, our country has been blessed to have men and women willing to answer the call of duty and accomplish great things for the benefit of their fellow man.
As we gather on this Veterans’ Day, I’d like to describe to you two veterans. One is a man who graduated from McPherson High School in 1941. The other is a woman who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2000. One served in the Navy during World War II, and the other flies Blackhawk helicopters for the Army in Iraq.
The World War II veteran is Udie Grant, a man who will be always revered in this community. Although he has passed on, he has left a legacy. Udie came of age in the Great Depression, and his life was forever changed by Pearl Harbor. He had only graduated from high school a few months before, but he answered his country’s call to duty.
Sixty years after Pearl Harbor, on September 11, 2001, our world changed again. Intense feelings stirred in all Americans. We felt the need to ensure that such terror would never again grip our nation. During my visit to Iraq in August of 2003, I met a West Point graduate now serving in the War on Terror. Katrina Gier-Lewison, graduated from Buehler High School in 1996. If you put their biographies side by side, Udie and Katrina are very different. And yet in many ways they are much alike. They share the same values--love of country and sense of duty; they shared the desire to serve their country and preserve its people’s freedom. The lines between generations of veterans blur.
In June, I traveled to Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. On the sands of the Normandy beaches, I watched the waves lapping at the shore, the cliffs ahead. I tried to imagine what it must have been like for those young men, so many years ago, to disembark from their ships and charge out across the sand.
Today, young men and women are charging across sands again, but instead of a beach, it is a desert. At Normandy, many young men and women gave up their chance to grow old and instead made the ultimate sacrifice. I know the same thing is now happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. I thank God for those men and women who sacrifice the precious gift of life while safeguarding the rights of others – their families, neighbors, and folks they never knew.
Our nation lost a prominent member of the Greatest Generation this past summer, President Ronald Reagan. To those gathered on the 40th anniversary of D-Day—20 years ago, President Reagan said: “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free”. In June, I walked through the Capitol Rotunda to pay my respects to President Reagan. As I stood there, I looked at the flag, draped over his casket. It’s the same flag that men and women have fought, bled, and died for. It’s the same flag we gather under, here today. I thought about how much Reagan loved America, and how his belief in freedom guided him.
There is concern today about a lack of heroes. If people have no heroes, it is because we are looking for heroes in the wrong places. We look at those who hit home runs, make touchdowns or shoot great three-pointers. Those people are athletes, not heroes. Today’s heroes are charging through the desert, fighting for the cause of freedom and the cause of peace. Today’s heroes share President Reagan’s faith in freedom. That faith is tested every day, as our men and women in uniform face the perils of war. It is appropriate that we ask God to watch over our heroes and bring them safely home.
President Reagan’s funeral service closed with a hymn entitled, “Mansions of the Lord.” The words of this hymn seem fitting for our gathering today:
To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the mansions of the Lord
No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, eternal light
In the mansions of the Lord
Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The mansions of the Lord
We gather here today to honor those who have gone to their eternal home, those who now reside in the mansions of their Lord. Some served long ago, while some served just yesterday. I pray that our reasons for living are as good as theirs were for dying.
Wherever a memorial is constructed, that place is hallowed ground. Whether located in McPherson, Kansas, or Washington, D.C., memorials to veterans all send the same message: We remember. We are grateful. We will never forget.
God bless our service men and women, our veterans and the country they love.
May we always remember.
May we always be proud.
May we always be prepared.
So we may always be free.
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