Memorial Day Remarks
Monday, May 30, 2011 - 3 p.m.
General Ham, members of the Tunisian honor guard, members of the Military Attaché Corps, honored guests.
This is the fourth time I have had the honor to deliver remarks at this special place. I am privileged to speak once again about the brave men and women in our military, and the sacrifices they have made here, and in many other places across the globe.
Memorial Day is a time to honor and reflect on those who have fallen in the line of service to their nation. It is always humbling - and particularly at commemorations such as this one - to remember that each year more of our servicemen and women have joined their fellow heroes in cemeteries like this one. Others have joined the ranks of the missing, which include the 3,724 names on the wall behind me.
This year also marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the U.S. Civil War, which tore our country apart before we ended the evil of slavery, reunited the country, and made it stronger than ever before. Memorial Day began as Decoration Day - a day in which Americans decorated the graves of those who fell in the Civil War, and remembered their sacrifice.
In a commemoration of the 20th Maine Regiment in Gettysburg in 1889, General Joshua Chamberlin said: "In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate the ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; and lo the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."
Joshua Chamberlain was the epitome of the citizen soldier: he was a college professor with no military background when he volunteered for the Army in the Civil War; he distinguished himself with his inspired defense of Little Round Top, which was perhaps the most important engagement of the most important battle of the Civil War, Gettysburg, and which earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor; and he later served as President of his alma mater, Bowdoin College.
This special place in Carthage is also hallowed ground, and like the stories of sacrifice and honor that draw us to pay tribute to Civil War battlefields in the U.S., and to pay tribute to the soldiers in blue and gray, so we come here to pay homage to those that continued the honored tradition of service and sacrifice.
And while the men and women memorialized here fought for a different cause, in lands far from home, they shared the same fears, the same hopes, and the same belief that what they were doing was not in vain and they served a higher noble cause.
It is for this reason that Americans everywhere gather together on this Memorial Day at cemeteries and monuments around the world to pay their respects to family members, friends, comrades, and countrymen, and to bring to life, for a brief few moments, the tombstones and designated sites, of their loved one.
There are many things we take for granted in our busy lives. As Americans, we are truly blessed to live in a country where freedom and the pursuit of happiness has been a given for more generations than any of us can remember. As Americans who live and serve in Tunisia, we have also been inspired by what the Tunisian people have accomplished in their revolution, proving that liberty and freedom are universal aspirations, not just American values. And as President Obama made crystal clear in his May 19 speech, we fully support the Tunisian people and their transition to full democracy.
Today we are remembering the cost we have paid for our freedom, and the great debt we owe to those who risk everything to protect those rights we enjoy. It is therefore entirely fitting that we also recognize the sacrifices Tunisians have made in their own cause for a better life.
In closing, I ask you to join me in considering what it truly means to be free and follow one's dreams, and to pay tribute to those who have given their lives so that we may pursue our dreams.
Thank you for joining us today.
It is now my great pleasure to introduce the Commander of the United States Africa Command, General Carter Ham, who is here on his second visit to Tunisia, but we hope not his last. General Ham, thank you for joining us today.