|
 
 
|
 About me Contact me |
|
|
About me Contact me |
|
Articles recently commented on:
Follow Mar Matthias on Twitter Follow Rev. Mother Theresa on Twitter
Website thumbnails generously provided by ShrinkTheWeb |
Wallner files (GulfLink/Gulf War): 5/8/91, General Norman Schwarzkopf addressed a joint meeting of Congress. Mr Speaker, members of Congress, and distinguished guests, it's a great day to be a soldier and it's a great day to be an American. I want to thank you for the singular distinction of being allowed to speak to a special session of the Congress of the United States of America. Indeed, I am awed and honored to be standing at the podium where so many notable men and women have stood before me. Unlike them, I don't stand here today for any great deed that I have done. Instead, I stand here because I was granted by our national leadership the great privilege of commanding the magnificent servicemen and women who constituted the armed forces of Operation Shield and Desert Storm. And before I go any further, I must, through their representatives who are here today, tell each and every one of those extraordinary patriots that I have no idea what the future holds in store for me, but I do know one thing. I will never, ever, in my entire life, receive a greater reward than the inspiration that I received every single day as I watched your dedicated performance--your dedicated sacrifice, your dedicated service to your country. Since I was fortunate enough to command these great Americans, and since you are the elected representatives of the American people, I would presume today to speak for our servicemen and women through you to the people of our great nation. And we were Protestants and Catholics and Jews and Moslems and Buddhists and many other religions, fighting for a common and just cause. Because that's what your military is. And we were black and white and yellow and brown and red. And we noticed that when our blood was shed in the desert, it didn't separate by race. It flowed together. You see, that's what your military is. And we fought side by side with brothers and sisters in arms who were British and French and Saudi Arabian and Egyptian and Kuwaiti and members of many other Arab and Western nations. And you know what? We noticed the same thing when their blood was shed in the desert. It did not separate according to national origin. We left our homes, our families, and traveled thousands of miles away and fought in places with names we couldn't even pronounce, simply because you asked us to, and therefore it became our duty, because that's what your military does. We now proudly join the ranks of Americans who call themselves veterans. We're proud to share that title with those who went before us. And we feel a particular pride in joining the ranks with that special group who served their country in the mountains and the jungles and the deltas of Vietnam. We who were there, and they served just as proudly in Vietnam as we served in the Middle East. And now that we've won a great victory, we dare to ask that, just as we were willing to sacrifice and fight to win the war, you'd be willing to sacrifice and search to win the peace. We want to offer our thanks. First, weld like to thank our God for the protection he gave us in the deserts of Kuwait and Iraq. Most of us came home safely. We ask him to grant a special love to all of our fallen comrades who gave their lives for the cause of freedom. And we ask that he embrace us to his bosom, not only the 147 of us who were killed in action, but also the 188 of us who gave their lives before the war, during Desert Shield, and since the termination of Desert Storm. They, too, no less than our killed-inaction, died for the cause of freedom. We also ask that God grant special strength to our comrades who are still in the hospitals with wounds and injuries they received during the war. By their example we should all remember that the freedoms we enjoy in this great country of ours do not come without a price. They are paid for and protected by the lives, the limbs and the blood of American servicemen and women. We would also like to thank our commander in chief for his wisdom and courage and the confidence he demonstrated in us by allowing us to fight this war in such a way that we were able to minimize our casualties. That is the right way to fight a war. Weld like to thank the Congress and former administration for giving us the finest tanks, the finest aircrafts, the finest ships and the finest military equipment in the world, without question. Without question, that is what gave us the confidence necessary to attack into the teeth of our enemy with the sure knowledge that we would prevail. And we would ask that in years to come, as we reduce the quantity of our armed forces, that you never forget that it is the quality of the armed forces that wins wars. We want to say a special thanks to our comrades in uniform who stayed behind. You backed us up so we could carry the fight to the enemy. You maintained the peace so that we could win the war. We never could have done our job if you hadn't done yours. We also want to thank the families. It's you who endure the hardships and the separations simply because you choose to love a soldier, a sailor, an airmen, a Marine or a Coast Guardsman. But it's your love that truly gave us strength in our darkest hours. Military families are the wind beneath our wings. Finally and most importantly to the great American people, the prophets of doom, the naysayers, the protesters and the flag-burners all said that you wouldn't stick by us, but we knew better. We knew you'd never let us down. By golly, you didn't. Since the first hour of Desert Shield until the last minute of Desert Storm, every day in every way, all across America, you shouted that you were with us. Millions of elementary school, high school and college students. Millions of families, untold numbers of civic organizations, veterans' organizations, countless offices, factories, companies, and work places, millions of ... Americans never let us forget that we were in your hearts and you were in our corner. Because of you, when that terrible first day of war came, we knew we would not fail. We knew we had the strength of the American people behind us, and with that strength, we were able to get the job done, kick the Iraqis out of Kuwait, and get back home. So for every soldier, thank you, America. For every sailor, thank you, America. For every Marine, thank you, America. For every airman, thank you, America. For every Coast Guardsman, thank you, America. From all of us, who proudly served in the Middle East in your armed forces, thank you, to the great people of the United States of America. -End of Speech- 
Top tags: thank, america, war, desert, american, ask, military, special, armed, congress
PermaLink Home
Please share your thoughts on this article. |
|
![[Valid RSS]](http://matthiaschronicles.tanaya.net/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
