By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va., May
28, 2012 – Binding the wounds of war is the priority for our nation, President
Barack Obama said during the Memorial Day observance here today.
Representing all Americans, the
president placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and then spoke at the
Memorial Amphitheatre.
“Today we come together as Americans to
pray, to reflect and to remember these heroes,” he said. “But tomorrow this
hallowed place will once again belong to a smaller group of visitors …
following a well-worn path to a certain spot and kneeling in front of a
familiar headstone. You are the family and friends of the fallen.”
Those who have lost a loved one “leave a
piece of yourselves beneath these trees,” the president said. “You, too, call
this sanctuary home.”
The president noted that for the first
time in nine years Americans are not fighting and dying in Iraq. The war in
Afghanistan is winding down, he said, and U.S. troops deployed there will come
home. “After a decade under the dark cloud of war, we can see the light of a
new day on the horizon,” he said.
With the war in Iraq over, the president
put the scale of the sacrifice in perspective. He spoke of the four Marines who
died in a helicopter crash on the first day of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March
2003. Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, Cpl. Brian Matthew
Kennedy and Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey were the first casualties of the
war. He then spoke of the last of the nearly 4,500 casualties: Army Spc. David
Hickman who was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad a month before the last
Americans left Iraq in December.
The president spoke about meeting the
Hickman family at Fort Bragg, N.C. “Right now, the Hickman’s are beginning a
very difficult journey that so many of your families have traveled before them
– a journey that more families will take in the months and years ahead,” he
said.
Obama spoke directly to the families of
the fallen and shared what he told the Hickmans: that there is no more
wrenching decision as president than sending service members into harm’s way.
“I can promise you that I will never do
so unless it is absolutely necessary,” he said. “Then when we do, we must give
our troops a clear mission and the full support of a grateful nation.”
Americans need to help the families
facing such tragedy, the president said. “As a country, all of us can and
should ask ourselves how we can help you shoulder a burden that no one should
have to bear alone.
“As we honor your mothers and fathers,
your sons and daughters who have given their last full measure of devotion to
this country, we have to ask ourselves how we can support you and your
families, and give you some strength.”
The best way to help is to remember the
sacrifices and to remember the dead as not just a line in the newspaper, but as
individuals, Obama said. The country can honor them by meeting its obligations
to those who did come home, he added.
“To all our men and women in uniform who
are here today, know this: The patriots who rest beneath these hills were
fighting for many things – for their families, for their flag – but above all,
they were fighting for you,” Obama said. “As long as I am president, we will
make sure you and your loved ones will receive the benefits you’ve earned and
the respect you deserve. America will be there for you.”
