Date: 1985-02-05
Speaker: JAN SCRUGGS (republican)
Chamber: S

Thank you very much. John. Our first speaker today will be a very special friend of mine and a very special friend of Vietnam Veterans and certainly a special friend of this Memorial. A man who volunteered for both World War II and Korea. In 1979. when I had this idea. I was able to get an appointment with a fellow who had just gotten himself a job as United States Senator from Virginia. a fellow named John Warner. And I told him about the idea. and he. having been former Secretary of the Navy. he thought this--maybe it would work and certainly if it could work. it could do a lot for our country and a lot. for the veterans. Senator Warner helped us raise the money for the Memorial. Senator Warner helped us resolve the many difficulties that have come in our way. I cant say enough good about this very very wonderful and distinguished man. Ladies and gentlemen. the distinguished Senator John Warner of Virginia. Senator JoHN WARNER. Thank you Jan Scruggs and all gathered here today. One is reminded on this afternoon of that brief refralit written about the turn of the century by Rudyard Kipling when he was addressing the life of a soldier. And that poem went. and he was speaking of a British Tommy: For its Tommy this. an Tommy that. an "Chuck im out. the brute!" But its "Savior of fs country" when the guns begin to shoot. Ladies and gentleman. my brief message is that this statute. this great monument. will stand as an everlasting reminder to those who have the responsibility of the leadership of this nation. be that the President or the Congress. that never again shall America send forth Its men and women in the cause of freedom to make those ultimate sacrifices unless this nation stands solidly behind those men and womenand unless this nation is prepared to receive them back with the honor. the dignity. and all the legal rights to which they are accorded. When I think back over the many years that it was my privilege to work with Jan Scruggs and cthers.-and all of the obstacles that were thrown in the pathand yet somehow we worked our way through. I shall always think that this statue is here today by at of divine providence. Thank you. Mr. Jan ScRuGs. Thank you very much. Senator Warner. Our a= speaker today is Retired Brigadier General George Price. General Price was wounded while fighting in the Korean War. stayed in the military and also fought in the Vietnam War. He was a career mili. tary officer. one of the first black officers to become Brigadier General and a very amazing and astounding man who has been a great friend of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. ladies and gentlemen. Brigadier General George Price. Brigadier General GEORGE PRIcE. Thank you Jan. Senator Warner. distinguished guests. fellow veterans. friends. parents. loved ones and families. I am deeply honored to participate in this tribute today because I understand our Commander in Chief is going to join us on this momentous occasion. And if I was in a position to render a report to our President. I would tell him. sir. it is with a great deal of gratitude that we bring home those Vietnam Veterans who served our country so nobly and with such distinction in a moment of crisis. That nine and a half million Americans answered our countrys call. two and a half million served in Southeast Asia and they served with the same dignity and pride that has characterized his countrys service members throughout our history. And we accomplished all of our missions. sir. We failed this country not one step. We never dropped the flag nor did we ever turn our back and were delighted to make that report to you. sir. We would also like to tell him that our mission and our convictions were never confused. We participated as one and weve collectivized our efforts behind one of our red heros. Jan Seruggs. whose sensitivity to the needs of his country carried on beyond the battlefields of Vietnam. but back home where it really was even more important. His dream of this Memorial as a symbol of reconciliation. as a symbol of coming home. is among the most noble traditions of service this country has ever known. Jan Is really one of our heros on and off the field of battle. And I think his staff and Jan deserves high praise. To Maya Lin who transposed a thought and a dream into a reality in a fashion to memorialize those fifty seve odd thousand people who gave the supreme sacrifice. Her sensitivity as a young American certainly pays great tribute to the knowledge of what it is to live in this great country of ours. And I believe that Frederick Harts sensitivity and the statue just adds to that tribute and makes all of us know that this entire twoacre plot belongs to all of us and we have an obligation to take away from here. from this place. on this day. our feelings to those who are less fortunate than ourselves. who because of reasons personal and economic and otherwise. will never see this Memorial except through our eyes. Take It home to them with z good feeling. And I would tell our President that we were that which others did not want to be. We went where others feared to go and did what others failed to do. We asked nothing from those who aave nothtrit and relUctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness should we fail. We have seen the face of terror. We have felt the stinging cold of fear and endured the sweet taste of a moments love. We have cried. pained. hoped. but most of all. we have lived times others would say were best forgotten. At least someday we will be able to say that we were proud of what we areVietnam Veterans. one and all. It is very fittL that this dayor that we start with this day. our Memorial Day. because they have names on the Memorial Wall just as our male counterparts. And their service has been keeping with the highest tradition of our country and they deserve the great recognition that we hope this week will bring to them. We share your anguish. we share your pain and we stand behind you in your week of recognition one hundred percent. I believe we need to know that one of the philosophies and doctrines and practices of Vietnam was that we never leave our battlefield with any wounded or dead. And we cannot close this report to our Commander in Chief without saying that we hope that he will use all of the powers of his good offices to continue to search for those twenty five hundred Americans and bring their remains home. Our hearts and our minds cannot rest in peace until we know. I believe also that the families of the veterans. and particularly Jan Scruggs and his family. deserve special recognition. It is no easy task to see your man go out on the venture where Jan Scruggs has and to pay those sacrifices which Im sure his family paid. during the years that he was trying to realize a dream. and he now can see that dream fulfilled. I think they deserve the highest praise of anyone around and my compliments to you. Some time ago. I made a comment from this platform that aptly described the feelings we had at the time from a poem by James Weldon Johnson. I think in 1984 I can give you another version of that poem that said: God of our weary years God of our silent tears Thou who has brought us thus far on our way Thou who has by thy might led us into the light Keep us forever in the path we pray Lest our feet stray from the places. 0 God. where we met Thee Lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world we forget Thee Shattered beneath Thy hand May we forever stand true to our God True to our native land Thank you very much.