The President’s Appeal to Patriotism, Pride and Appreciation Is Timeless
5/27/24 – – On Memorial Day 40 years ago, President Ronald Reagan paid tribute at Arlington Cemetery to the Vietnam War’s Unknown Soldier. Looking back, his words are especially meaningful and moving to baby boomers, like myself, who came of age during the Vietnam years.
As President Reagan points out, the soldiers who fought in this unpopular, far-off conflict returned home with “no parades, no flags, and so little thanks.” But rather than focusing on controversy at such a solemn occasion, he calls upon the nation to “debate the lessons learned at some other time.”
I think that’s great advice for us today. On this special holiday, let’s remember what’s right about America and focus on honoring the service and sacrifice of all fallen service members throughout our history. We can get back to politics tomorrow.
In that spirit of appreciation, I offer the following excerpt from Ronald Reagan’s May 28, 1984, remarks at the tomb of the Vietnam War’s Unknown Soldier:
Memorial Day is a day of ceremonies and speeches. Throughout America today, we honor the dead of our wars. We recall their valor and their sacrifices. We remember they gave their lives so that others might live. We are also gathered here for a special event, the national funeral for an unknown soldier who will today join the heroes of three other wars.
The unknown soldier who has returned to us today and who we lay to rest is symbolic of all our missing sons. And we will present him the Congressional Medal of honor, the highest military decoration we can bestow.
About him, we may well wonder as others have: As a child, did he play on some street in a great American city. Did he work beside his father on a farm in America’s heartland? Did he marry? Did he have children. Did he look expectantly to return to a bride. We will never know the answers to those questions about his life.
We do know, though, why he died. He saw the horrors of war but bravely faced them, certain his own cause and country’s cause was a noble one, that he was fighting for human dignity, for free men everywhere. Today, we pause, to embrace him and all who served us so well in a war whose end offered no parades, no flags, and so little thanks.
We can be worthy of the values and ideals for which our sons sacrificed, worthy of their courage in the face of a fear that few of us will ever experience by honoring their commitment and devotion to duty and country.
Many veterans of Vietnam still serve in the Armed Forces, work in our offices, on our farms, in our factories. Most have kept their experiences private, but most have been strengthened by their call to duty. A grateful nation opens her heart today in gratitude for their sacrifice, for their courage and their noble service.
Let us, if we must, debate the lessons learned at some other time. Today we simply say with pride: Thank you, dear son, and may God cradle you in his loving arms.
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