US Presidency
1983

He spoke of a young marine with more tubes going in and out of his body than I have ever seen in one body. He couldn't see very well. He reached up and grabbed my four stars, just to make sure I was who I said I was. He held my hand with a firm grip. He was making signals, and we realized he wanted to tell me something. We put a pad of paper in his hand, and he wrote ' Semper Fi. ' Well, if you've been a marine or if, like myself, you're an admirer of the marines, you know those words are a longtime, a greeting, and a legend in the Marine Corps. They're marine shorthand for the motto of the Corps, Semper Fidelis , always faithful. General Kelley has a reputation for being a very sophisticated general and a very tough marine. But he cried when he saw those words, and who can blame him? That marine and all those others like him, living and dead, have been faithful to their ideals.