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American soldiers who died in the India-Burma campaign of World
War II. Over the portal of this cemetery are written these words:
"Tell them what we gave our todays for their tomorrows. "
We are here today, then, to express our gratitude to all the men and
women who sacrificed their "todays" in the wars our country has
waged so that others of their fellow-countrymen could enjoy the
"tomorrows. " We should be conscious, not only just on Veterans Day
but every day of the year, of the brave men who have died that others
might live in greater security and greater happiness.
Closer to the truth, perhaps, than he knew was the schoolboy who
wrote on his examination paper that "the armistice was signed on the
eleventh of November, 1918, and since then every year there has been
two minutes of peace. "
Every sensitive and thoughtful person, I believe, has the feeling of
deep indebtedness as he walks amid the securities and advantages of
a land like America and realizes that brave men have suffered and
died to provide all this. It is altogether fitting, I think, that we set
aside a day of each year in homage to our courageous soldiers, sailors
and marines. Someone lias written, however, that parades and two
minutes of silence are all right, but he added that two hours with
the country on its knees in prayer for those who are struggling to
prevent a third world war would be more to the point. And so, I
think that we do the veterans of our wars — those of our generation
and of all generations past — the proper honors when we affirm our
resolution to work for an enduring peace and our determination to
keep our country strong enough that it will not be vulnerable to
the evil forces that threaten it from all sides.
All of us pray for the day when we may be able to beat our swords
into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks. But we acknow-
ledge, with deep sadness and keen disappointment, that this day has
not yet arrived. We know, with certainty, that the hope for lasting
peace with justice in the world depends on our remaining strong. We
know, also, that these hopes will vanish if we ever allow ourselves to
sink into a position of weakness before an enemy that is cruel, ruth-
less and powerful.
We cannot with mere words pay to these valiant men the honor they
deserve. It is only by our deeds that we give them the true homage
they have merited, and by deeds, and deeds alone, are we able to
fulfill our obligations to them. It is not strange in the least that so
many persons have spoken and written the same sentiments when
celled upon to express appropriate remarks about the dead in our
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