Bill Clinton: “Anchorage, Alaska November 11, 1994 Thank you very much, General Boese, General Cox, General Case, General Needham. On…”

“Anchorage, Alaska November 11, 1994 Thank you very much, General Boese, General Cox, General Case, General Needham. On this Veterans Day, I would be remiss if I did not say a special word of thanks to General Needham for his work in trying to recover the information we need about our POW's and MIA's in Vietnam. I thank you, sir, for your work there. Governor Hickel, Senator Stevens, Mayor Mystrom, former Governor Sheffield, ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad to be here in Alaska. I've been trying for 2 years to get here to Alaska. At times I find the President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces but not of his own schedule. [Laughter] Twenty-five years ago, before I met her, my wife came to Alaska and worked for a summer. So you can say to me, welcome to Alaska, but for Hillary, it's welcome back to Alaska. I've heard so much about it I always felt that I had imagined it, seen it all in my mind. Those of you who, like me, have been married for a while, we've told each other the same stories so many times I feel that I could tell you what it was like when I worked in Alaska 25 years ago. [Laughter] But I'm glad to be here to see the real thing. I've also heard a lot about Alaska from another group, the veterans of the 208th Coastal Artillery, a National Guard unit from my home State of Arkansas that defended Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians during World War II. One of my best friends and one of my former chiefs of staff lost his brother in that brave struggle.…”