AMBASSADOR Robert Holmes Tuttle
Speeches, Remarks & Events
28 May 2007
Ambassador's Statement on Memorial Day
Perhaps there is no greater tragedy than the lessons lost in time as it takes its inevitable toll and events slowly fade from our living memory into the dusty stillness of history.
We have commemorated the 60th anniversaries of V-E and V-J Days. We have celebrated the reconciliation of the victors and the vanquished 58 years after the founding of NATO and the unity of once-warring nations in the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.
Next week, we will be celebrating the rebuilding of Europe with the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
But as each of those anniversaries passes, we see the struggle in the eyes of those who once could call to mind their part in those momentous events or their experiences on the field of battle.
Those veterans lived through a time unlike any that had gone before, as dictators embarked on a dangerous dance with fate and — being seduced by her — took the decisions that would lead millions to this place — and the countless cemeteries across the theaters of a global war.
By ambition's cold hand, generations were lost, a continent was put asunder by a Curtain of Iron, and the world was haunted by the bereaved and bereft — witnesses and survivors of those unnatural events.
We need look no farther than this place for the terrible proof of the horrifying human cost of lessons that we cannot allow to become lost in time.
So we stand together today to remember the stand these soldiers made: against tyranny, against injustice, and against evil unleashed upon the world.
We remember their willingness to fight, to protect, and to serve — their country and their comrades-in-arms — and we take hope in the fact that in the very teeth of tragedy, there was also evidence of the resilience and strength of the human spirit, the grim determination of character, and the uplifting power of shared aspirations.
In our remembering, we not only honor those who died, but call to mind our better beliefs, our highest ideals, and our stronger resolve that their sacrifice was not in vain.
We find inspired in us a desire to redouble our efforts, to fight the good fight where we must, but to also commit ourselves to the longer, slower battle that must be waged for freedom, for democracy, and ultimately for the peace that comes only from security and justice.
We do this because it will not be only the tomes of history that will judge us in this task, but our own descendents.
Let the future not find them in places like this, with questions as to our motives, or as to our determination to do what was right by the standards of those who went before. Let them not fear that we were not willing to take risks to preserve our values and our freedom — and their inheritance.
As the political philosopher, John Stuart Mill, wrote:
"A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about then he does about his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free."
By writing the sacrifice of their lives on our hearts, we can believe that we will not be condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past.
By committing ourselves to the vision of these fallen, their effort remains undying.
By carrying their message into the future, we guarantee these important lessons will not be lost to the mists of time.
We shall remember them.
We must remember them.
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Speeches, Remarks & Events