Bill Clinton: “Pearl Harbor, Hawaii September 2, 1995 Thank you very much. Thank you, Admiral Fluckey, for your kind words and far more…”

“Pearl Harbor, Hawaii September 2, 1995 Thank you very much. Thank you, Admiral Fluckey, for your kind words and far more for your astonishing service to our country. Secretary Dalton, Secretary Perry, Secretary Brown, Admiral Boorda, Admiral Macke, Admiral Zlatoper, Admiral Moorer, Admiral Moore, Cap- tain Baucom, to all the distinguished veterans who are here from the United States Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and the merchant marine; to the crew of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson: It's good to be back. I was on board in San Francisco in August of 1993, and now I have two of these caps which I can proudly wear around the United States. Fifty years ago today, on the other side of this Pacific Ocean, the war ended. It was a war that erupted in smoke and horror aboard the battleship Arizona and concluded with peace and honor aboard the battleship Missouri. Today we gather to offer a commemoration and to renew a commitment. We commemorate the men and women of the Navy, the Marine Corps, and their sister services who gave everything they had to the cause of freedom. And we commit ourselves to their legacy by meeting the great demands of this age with the same determination and fortitude. More than 2,000 years ago, Pericles gave a funeral oration in which he said it was the actions of his fallen soldiers and not his own words that would stand as their memorial.…”