Secretary Tom Ridge Speaks at Memorial Day Ceremony

Release Date: 05/31/04 00:00:00

Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Washington, D.C.
May 31, 2004
(Remarks as Prepared)

Distinguished guests, family members, my fellow veterans:  

As Jim mentioned, I was called to serve in Vietnam when I was 22 years old.  I was a grunt, a "ground pounder."  I am proud to have served with so many of you and am honored to be in your company.

I join you at this healing wall this afternoon, upon this hallowed ground, before this distinguished crowd, to remember buddies, brothers, fathers, sisters, mothers – all those who held the title of "citizen" in ways no definition of the word can ever do justice.

Ten years ago, almost to the day, I spoke at this memorial.  Then, as now, my thoughts were of memories and stories and pride.  As my fellow veterans will understand, I carry memories of combat that are difficult to bear, but also memories that are bittersweet--memories of buddies who to this day remind me how lucky I am to have known and learned from them, to have served at their side, to have had the privilege to call them "friend."  

Of that time, I think also of my father – my strong, mentoring, principled, beloved father, who wrote to me every single day while I was in Vietnam.  On an old manual typewriter, he would clack out letters that kept the two of us connected.  A father to his son, a former Navy man to his foot soldier.  Sometimes a letter was just a few sentences, which I would read quietly, wanting to hear his voice lift from the page.  Once, I read a letter aloud – to the “fellas.”  It was a play-by-play of Super Bowl IV (4) – Kansas City Chiefs versus Minnesota Vikings, 1970.  We loved it.  

It is true:  When letters reached the line, for any of us, words back home could conjure up heart-wrenching homesickness.  Yet those same words of hope and pride and support also inspired us to fight on--for the families and the country we wanted so ably to protect and to serve.

The irony, the cruelty, the good and bad fortune of war is that good soldiers don't always come back.  And yet, while the stories of heroics and patriotism and sheer devotion to country during the days of Vietnam are too extraordinary to be measured, they are so extraordinary that they must be remembered.

As with all challenging times, there are those individuals who rise to affirm that patriotism is not an ideal but a way of life.  One of those individuals grew up just across the Potomac River.  He lived in Alexandria, Virginia and went to Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C.  He was Captain "Rocky" Versace, who in 2002, became the first Army POW to be awarded the Medal of Honor.  

A West Point graduate, a Green Beret, Rocky fought through two tours of duty -- and with two weeks to go before he was to head to his dream, the seminary, he volunteered for a daring mission – to take out a Viet Cong command post.  

Rocky's unit was largely outnumbered.  He suffered multiple bullet wounds, but he fought on, offered fire so that others could escape the savage massacre as well as Rocky’s next fate, capture.  Along with two other soldiers captured that day, Rocky spent two years, bound in a bamboo cage, six feet long, two feet wide, three feet high.  

But little did his captors know, Rocky was bound to something stronger than bamboo – the West Point Code of Conduct – “Duty, Honor, Country.”  He was defiant -- confounding those who tried unsuccessfully to beat down his will, starve him into submission, retrieve more information than he would give – name, rank and serial number.  And more than that, Rocky took on the role of "troublemaker" to distill what small measure of daily torture he could from his fellow prisoners.

He was eventually separated from the other prisoners, who last heard his voice as he sang "God Bless America" at the top of his lungs from his isolation box.  The next day, September 26th, 1965, Captain Rocky Versace was executed.  

There is no yardstick for patriotism.  And if there ever was, Rocky’s level of bravery and love of country would exceed its bounds.  For 22 months, he endured unimaginable torture, which he answered with unfaltering courage and faith.  Today, this “soldier’s soldier” is at peace.  We thank him, and remember him.

This is just one story.  There are 58,244 others on the honor roll behind me.  Each one is heroic; each one is tempered with the twin cousins of war, pain and pride.

And so we must always look to this magnificent, marbled wall.  For it is at this place of healing that many of us have found comfort, and closure, and the inspiration to go on, which is what sacrifice and service and an unyielding belief in freedom compels us to do.  To go on, to endure, to better our country just as Rocky and others would have wanted.  May we all come together and take up that torch – because, of this country, of this war, of these, our brave and fallen soldiers, no act of valor must ever lie in vain.

To all of our nation’s veterans – 48 million strong since 1776 – may you know, in heart and spirit, we will not cast aside, we will not diminish, we will not forget your sacrifices – not those who never returned to the warmth of a family embrace, not those who never lived to hear themselves called "veteran."

It's been said that America is a willingness of the heart.  One of the hallmarks of the soldiers we honor today is their willingness to put the unit above the individual, a fellow soldier above self.  There is strength we can draw from such legacies of courage.

Nearly two years ago, the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, reminded us that freedom is not bestowed; it is earned and must be relentlessly pursued and preserved.  And so it was that senseless acts of evil renewed a sense of service and duty in us all and stirred this nation to say with one voice:  We will meet brutality with justice.  We will protect our people with full force.  We will live in freedom, and we will never let that freedom go.

Today our thoughts and prayers are with a new generation of soldiers who are leading the fight on the war on terrorism.  These soldiers are on the front lines of a battle that is unlike any war we have fought in the past.  They spend their days and nights shielding innocent children from insurgents, trekking mountainous miles searching caves, weathering the fierce winds of distant seas.  

May they look to the stories of the past and draw inspiration from the valor of soldiers such as Rocky Versace--and the daring feats of bravery performed by every one of the soldiers who honor this wall.  

Our fighting men and women come from a long line of heroes, and I salute them and all of you here today who have fought to make America the great nation it has become.  

And yet, the work of securing our country is not a burden for our soldiers alone. It is not the work of one individual it is the work of every individual.  It is the work of a nation.  

We are all pledged to freedom's cause; we are each its protector.  We are all called to serve as long as we call ourselves free.  

And so, together, may we continue to further “the earnest struggle” to do what is right and just, for future generations of Americans and for all those who call this great country home.

May God bless you all.  And may God bless America.  Thank you.

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