Luke says Moo!

All Hail those that served the United States of America and died. We remember and will always remember you. May your sleep be long and peaceful.

Also, this is a special weekend as the World War II memorial opened on Saturday at 7 p.m. with the raising of Old Glory “over a monument that will stand as long as America itself,” according to President George W. Bush. (From a United Press International piece…linked above and preserved in the Extended Entry.)

Extended entry also includes Pres. Bush’s speech delievered at the dedication.

You can visit: National WWII informative site mostly about funding and setting up the monument.

Or the National Park Service’s National World War II Memorial for future inquiries.

Original of below can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/05/20040529-2.html (Verified on May 31, 2004)
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Remarks by the President at National World War II Memorial Dedication
National World War II Memorial
Washington, D.C.

3:09 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. I’m honored to join with President Clinton, President Bush, Senator Dole and other distinguished guests on this day of remembrance and celebration. And, General Kelley, here in the company of the generation that won the war, I proudly accept the World War II Memorial on behalf of the people of the United States of America. (Applause.)

Raising up this Memorial took skill and vision and patience. Now the work is done, and it is a fitting tribute, open and expansive, like America; grand and enduring, like the achievements we honor. The years of World War II were a hard, heroic and gallant time in the life of our country. When it mattered most, an entire generation of Americans showed the finest qualities of our nation and of humanity. On this day, in their honor, we will raise the American flag over a monument that will stand as long as America itself.

In the history books, the Second World War can appear as a series of crises and conflicts, following an inevitable course — from Pearl Harbor to the Coast of Normandy to the deck of the Missouri. Yet, on the day the war began, and on many hard days that followed, the outcome was far from certain.

There was a time, in the years before the war, when many earnest and educated people believed that democracy was finished. Men who considered themselves learned and civilized came to believe that free institutions must give way to the severe doctrines and stern discipline of a regimented society. Ideas first whispered in the secret councils of a remote empire, or shouted in the beer halls of Munich, became mass movements. And those movements became armies. And those armies moved mercilessly forward — until the world saw Hitler strutting in Paris, and U.S. Navy ships burning in their own port. Across the world, from a hiding place in Holland to prison camps of Luzon, the captives awaited their liberators.

Those liberators would come, but the enterprise would require the commitment and effort of our entire nation. As World War II began, after a decade of economic depression, the United States was not a rich country. Far from being a great power, we had only the 17th largest army in the world. To fight and win on two fronts, Americans had to work and save and ration and sacrifice as never before. War production plants operated shifts around the clock. Across the country, families planted victory gardens — 20 million of them, producing 40 percent of the nation’s vegetables in backyards and on rooftops. Two out of every three citizens put money into war bonds. As Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby said, “This was a people’s war, and everyone was in it.”

As life changed in America, so did the way that Americans saw our own country and its place in the world. The bombs at Pearl Harbor destroyed the very idea that America could live in isolation from the plots of aggressive powers. The scenes of the concentration camps, the heaps of bodies and ghostly survivors, confirmed forever America’s calling to oppose the ideologies of death.

As we defended our ideals, we began to see that America is stronger when those ideals are fully implemented. America gained strength because women labored for victory and factory jobs, cared for the wounded and wore the uniform, themselves. America gained strength because African Americans and Japanese Americans and others fought for their country, which wasn’t always fair to them. In time, these contributions became expectations of equality, and the advances for justice in post-war America made us a better country.

With all our flaws, Americans at that time had never been more united. And together we began and completed the largest single task in our history. At the height of conflict, America would have ships on every ocean, and armies on five continents. And on the most crucial of days, would move the equivalent of a major city across the English Channel.

And all these vast movements of men and armor were directed by one man who could not walk on his own strength. President Roosevelt brought his own advantages to the job. His resolve was stronger than the will of any dictator. His belief in democracy was absolute. He possessed a daring that kept the enemy guessing. He spoke to Americans with an optimism that lightened their task. And one of the saddest days of the war came just as it was ending, when the casualty notice in the morning paper began with the name, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Commander-in-Chief.

Across the years, we still know his voice. And from his words, we know that he understood the character of the American people. Dictators and their generals had dismissed Americans as no match for a master race. FDR answered them. In one of his radio addresses, he said, “We have been described as a nation of weaklings, playboys. Let them tell that to General McArthur and his men. Let them tell that to the boys in the flying fortresses. Let them tell that to the Marines.”

In all, more than 16 million Americans would put on the uniform of the soldier, the sailor, the airman, the Marine, the Coast Guardsman or the Merchant Mariner. They came from city streets and prairie towns, from public high schools and West Point. They were a modest bunch, and still are. The ranks were filled with men like Army Private Joe Sakato. In heavy fighting in France, he saw a good friend killed, and charged up a hill determined to shoot the ones who did it. Private Sakato ran straight into enemy fire, killing 12, wounding two, capturing four, and inspiring his whole unit to take the hill and destroy the enemy. (Applause.) Looking back on it 55 years later, Joe Sakato said, “I’m not a hero. Nowadays they call what I did ‘road rage.’” (Laughter.)

This man’s conduct that day gained him the Medal of Honor, one of 464 awarded for actions in World War II. Americans in uniform served bravely, fought fiercely and kept their honor — even under the worst of conditions. Yet they were not warriors by nature. All they wanted was to finish the job and make it home. One soldier in the 58th Armor Field Artillery was known to have the best-kept rifle in the unit. He told his buddies he had plans for that weapon after the war. He said, “I want to take it home, cover it in salt, hang it on a wall in my living room so I can watch it rust.”

These were the modest sons of a peaceful country, and millions of us are very proud to call them Dad. They gave the best years of their lives to the greatest mission their country ever accepted. (Applause.) They faced the most extreme danger, which took some and spared others, for reasons only known to God. And wherever they advanced or touched ground, they are remembered for their goodness and their decency. A Polish man recalls being marched through the German countryside in the last weeks of the war, when American forces suddenly appeared. He said, “Our two guards ran away. And this soldier with little blonde hair jumps off his tank. ‘You’re free,’ he shouts at us. We started hugging each other, crying and screaming, ‘God sent angels down to pick us up out of this hell place.’”

Well, our boys weren’t exactly angels. They were flesh and blood, with all the limits and fears of flesh and blood. That only makes the achievement more remarkable — the courage they showed, in a conflict that claimed more than 400,000 American lives, leaving so many orphans and widows and Gold Star Mothers.

The soldiers’ story was best told by the great Ernie Pyle, who shared their lives and died among them. In his book, “Here Is Your War,” he described World War II as many veterans now remember it. It is a picture, he wrote, “of tired and dirty soldiers, who are alive and don’t want to die; of long, darkened convoys in the middle of the night; of shocked, silent men wandering back down the hill from battle; of Jeeps and petrol dumps and smelly bedding roles and C-rations; and blown bridges and dead mules and hospital tents and shirt collars greasy-black from months of wearing; and of laughter, too, and anger, and wine, and lovely flowers and constant cussing. All these, it is composed of; and of graves and graves and graves.”

On this Memorial Day weekend, the graves will be visited, and decorated with flowers and flags. Men whose step has slowed are thinking of boys they knew when they were boys together. And women who watched the train leave, and the years pass, can still see the handsome face of their young sweetheart. America will not forget them, either.

At this place, at this Memorial, we acknowledge a debt of long-standing to an entire generation of Americans: those who died; those who fought and worked and grieved and went on. They saved our country, and thereby saved the liberty of mankind. And now I ask every man and woman who saw and lived World War II — every member of that generation — to please rise as you are able, and receive the thanks of our great nation.

May God bless you. (Applause.)

END 3:24 P.M. EDT
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Original of below can be found at: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040530-031111-6862r (Verified on May 31, 2004)
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Thousands gather to dedicate WWII memorial
By Will Whitehorn
UPI Correspondent
Published 5/30/2004 3:30 PM

WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) — Tenacious cicadas and the steady heat of a Washington spring did nothing to spoil the jubilation of thousands of veterans and their families immersed in camaraderie and ready to accept the thanks of a grateful nation.

Following years of construction, months of planning and days of celebration, the National World War II Memorial was formally dedicated Saturday in ceremonies on the National Mall. President Bush’s dedication on behalf of the country thanked “The Greatest Generation,” for the valor, industry and resolve it showed over the decades.

“It is a fitting tribute,” Bush said. “Open and expansive like America, grand and enduring like the achievements we honor. The years of WWII were a hard, heroic and gallant time in the life of our country. When it mattered most, an entire generation of Americans showed the finest qualities of our nation, and of humanity.”

“In all, over 16 million Americans put on the uniform of the solider, the sailor, the airmen, the Marine, the Coast Guardsmen or the Merchant Mariner,” he continued. “They came from city streets and prairie towns, from public high schools and West Point. They were a modest bunch, and still are.”

War veterans arrived by droves for memorial celebrations, which began Thursday. Saturday’s keynote ceremony drew an estimated 150,000 people to the National Mall, many of whom were overwhelmed by the tribute.

“It was tremendous,” said Abraham Thompson, who served in the Army Air Corps and flew raids over Germany, Austria and most of Europe. “It couldn’t get any better than this. It was just done so well.”

“I think (the memorial) is just great, and its unfortunate that it took so long to have it finished,” said Chuck Engelhart, a retired Marine who spent most of the war serving on the Pacific front. “(The celebrations) this week were just great. They gave you a sense that there’s still patriotism left in this country, although I think there’s too much division of thoughts today.”

By early morning Saturday, the National Mall was crowded with onlookers anxious to partake in the weekend’s historic festivities. Reunions Halls, war story pavilion, and concessions on the mall were packed with tourists, veterans and their families, as were the thousands of seats surrounding a jumbotron, which televised the dedication ceremony, several hundred yards away, for those without tickets.

Seats at the site of the ceremony were full hours before the dedication, an enthusiastic throng entertained by big band music, swing dancing and documentary footage broadcast of the war shown on a large screen, footage included the battle for Saipan and D-Day. Those who were able danced in the aisles; those who could not watched on and waved miniature U.S. flags, smiling, laughing and remembering.

U.S. Postmaster General John Potter began the ceremony by issuing a commemorative stamp, which bears the monument’s likeness against a vanilla sky backdrop. Following some brief words, the flags of every state were introduced, brought from the rear of the ceremony by military personnel, who rested them on a stage where dignitaries, celebrities, military officials and President George H.W. Bush, President Clinton and the present U.S. president.

Several keynote speeches were given, concluding with Bush’s remarks, to mark the official recognition of the memorial by the U.S. government. Despite many concerns regarding the health of a largely older crowd and safety following a terror warning issued last week, the ceremony went largely without incident and on track, except some technological glitches that briefly incapacitated the ceremony’s large video screen.

NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw’s remarks addressed the industry and enterprise of the wartime generation, those in person, those who watched from selected cities on a special satellite feed, and those unable to attend due to health concerns. Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation,” was a best seller when it was released in 1998.

“No monument, however well positioned or polished, can take the place of the enduring legacy of all of you, the people that we honor here today,” said Brokaw. “Your lives, and how you lived them, the country you defended and loved and cared for, for the rest of your days — that is the undeniable legacy of you, the men and women I call the ‘Greatest Generation.’”

Former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and a World War II veteran and icon who raised nearly half of the almost $200 million dollars necessary to construct the monument, thanked two former presidents in attendance for their contributions to the finished monument: George H.W. Bush, who suggested legislation for the construction, and Bill Clinton, who later authorized it.

Dole also acknowledged how World War II veterans had effectively changed the world, not only through their willingness to free foreigners from the grips of despotism, but to change policies on the home front that impeded the United States’ own countrymen, minorities and women.

“Our democracy, though imperfect, is more nearly perfect than in the days of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Roosevelt,” he said. “That’s what makes America forever a work in progress, a land that has never become, but is always in the act of becoming. And that’s why the armies of democracy have earned a permanent place on this sacred ground.”

The ceremony included a virtual tour of the monument, narrated by actor Tom Hanks, who also spoke. Denyce Graves of the Washington Metropolitan Opera, provided stirring renditions of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America,” complimented by a military fly-over, which further ignited a spirited and patriotic crowd.

The monument officially opened at 7 p.m. Saturday, when the U.S. flag was raised “over a monument that will stand as long as America itself,” according to President George W. Bush.
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