MEMORIAL DAY QUOTES II
quotations about Memorial Day
Looking across this field, we see the scale of heroism and sacrifice. All who are buried here understood their duty. All stood to protect America. And all carried with them memories of a family that they hoped to keep safe by their sacrifice.
GEORGE W. BUSH
remarks on Memorial Day, 2005
I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate ... I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.
BENJAMIN HARRISON
remarks on Decoration (Memorial) Day, 1891
Memorial Day in America is a line across the times--a line that connects yesterday with today and tomorrow. That we're here today, and that remembrances like this are underway across this shining land, isn't lost on the kids who serve today. I hear this all the time. They know what it means that they too are doing the noblest of things, providing security so that Americans can get up in the morning, dress their kids, kiss em' off to school, go to work, dream their dreams, live lives that are full. They know it means that for all its variety, America is one in support for them. And they know that not one of them--not one, ever--will be left behind, that every effort will be made, to bring them home, no matter how long it takes.
ASH CARTER
remarks delivered as Secretary of Defense, May 30, 2016
It is a very important day in the U.S. and the U.K. When I was a child in England, it was observed as a very solemn day. Everyone would wear a red poppy in their lapel. It represented the blood of the fallen. But on Memorial Day, I don't want to only remember the combatants. There were also those who came out of the trenches as writers and poets, who started preaching peace, men and women who have made this world a kinder place to live.
ERIC BURDON
Rolling Stone, January 26, 2013
To those of you who mourn the loss of a loved one today, my heart goes out to you. I love my daughters more than anything in the world, and I cannot imagine losing them. I can't imagine losing a sister or brother or parent at war. The grief so many of you carry in your hearts is a grief I cannot fully know. This day is about you, and the fallen heroes that you loved.
BARACK OBAMA
remarks by the President at a Memorial Day service, May 30, 2011
There is no higher honor or more solemn privilege than to represent our Nation in paying tribute to its honored dead.
GERALD FORD
remarks on Memorial Day, 1976
Here on this peaceful hillside, the silent rows of headstones tell tales of service and sacrifice that are so much the story of our nation. Here lies the spirit that has guided our country for more than 200 years now. Nurses and drummer boys, scouts and engineers, warriors and peacemakers--joined by a shared devotion to defend our nation, protect our freedom, keep America strong and proud.
BILL CLINTON
remarks on Memorial Day, 1996
Ceremonies are important. But our gratitude has to be more than visits to the troops, and once-a-year Memorial Day ceremonies. We honor the dead best by treating the living well.
JENNIFER M. GRANHOLM
"Honor Sacrifice by Supporting Vets", Huffington Post, May 26, 2012
Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.
BARACK OBAMA
remarks by the President at a Memorial Day service, May 30, 2011
On this day, we must tell the stories of those who fought and died in freedom's cause. We must tell their stories because those who've lost loved ones need to know that a grateful Nation will always remember. We must tell their stories so that our children and grandchildren will understand what our lives might have been like had it not been for their sacrifice.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH
remarks on Memorial Day, 1992
Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!
The thoughts of men shall be
As sentinels to keep
Your rest from danger free.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Decoration Day"
Words cannot measure the depth of their devotion, the purity of their love, or the totality of their courage. We only hope that every day we can prove worthy not only of their sacrifice and service but of the sacrifice made by the families and loved ones they left behind. Special, special people.
DONALD TRUMP
remarks on Memorial Day, May 29, 2017
The Unknown Soldier who is returned to us today and whom we lay to rest is symbolic of all our missing sons, and we will present him with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration that we can bestow.
RONALD REAGAN
remarks on Memorial Day, 1984
It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.
H. NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF
television interview with Barbara Walters, March 15, 1991
Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen, Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.
RICHARD WATSON GILDER
"Sherman", Five Books of Song
And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier's tomb, and beauty weeps the brave.
JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE
"To the Defenders of New Orleans", Poems of American History
I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, do hereby urge the people of the United States to observe Tuesday, May 30, 1961, Memorial Day, by invoking the blessing of God on those who have died in defense of our country, and by praying for a new world of law where peace and justice shall prevail and a life of opportunity shall be assured for all; and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at eleven o'clock in the morning of that day as the time to unite in such prayer.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Proclamation 3409--Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1961
In honoring those who answered the call of duty, we do not honor war. But we honor the peace they sought, the freedoms that they fought to preserve, and the hope that they held out to a world that's still struggling to learn how to settle differences among people and among nations without resorting to violence.
JIMMY CARTER
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bill Remarks on Signing S.J. Res. 119 Into Law, July 1, 1980
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.
RONALD REAGAN
remarks on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1984
To every Gold Star family, God is with you, and your loved ones are with Him. They died in wars so that we could live in peace. I believe that God has a special place in heaven for those who laid down their lives so that others may live free from fear and this horrible oppression.
DONALD TRUMP
remarks on Memorial Day, May 29, 2017