Political Quotes

“Mr. President, what defines an American soldier? Is it courage under fire? Is it physical strength? Is it the great victories on the battlefield? No. I think it is something else. Above all, it is sacrifice. It is the selflessness to surrender one's life so that a set of values will endure not only for the living but for generations to come. It is the faith that the future of this great Nation is more important than the life of any one of its citizens; that the cause of liberty is greater than any individual. Be that as it may, every fallen hero must be remembered. Every individual who makes the ultimate sacrifice must be honored. That is why, in the spring every year, we decorate their graves with flowers and the flag they fought for. Those headstones made of marble or granite are often indistinguishable from a distance. Fittingly, their sacrifice was the same no matter how fabled or forgotten the battle, no matter in victory or defeat; and though we rightly revere our glorious triumphs--the trenches of Yorktown, the hills of Gettysburg, the fields of the Marne, the beaches of Normandy--it is often in America's darkest hours, in the face of great disaster, when we see the virtues of America's warriors most clearly. So it was with SGT Charles Garrigus, a farm boy from the town of Francisco in Southern Indiana. In growing up during the Depression, he developed a passion and skill for motors, of driving trucks and tractors across the Hoosier countryside.…”