On the recordDecember 7, 1992
Please be seated. May I say to Admiral Thompson, it's a great pleasure to be with you, sir, on this sunny day; Secretary of the Navy Sean O'Keefe; Admiral Frank Kelso; and Admiral Howell. And Captain Bill Perry, thank you, sir, for the invocation. And thank all of you for attending. Let me say at the very beginning, I am proud to have served in the United States Navy. And I am very proud of those who are serving in the United States Navy, each and every single one of them. Today we remember the servicemen, the brave and the innocent, who gave their lives to keep us free. The men we honor served a noble cause and made America forever proud. War embodies man's inhumanity to man. And these heroes mirrored man's fidelity to honor. The men of Pearl Harbor knew the things worth living for were also worth dying for: principle, decency, liberty, truth. So it is in their honor that the two new ships will join the fleet. The first, a new destroyer, will be named U.S.S. Ross for Captain Donald Ross, hero and Medal of Honor winner at Pearl Harbor. I met Don Ross at the memorial service commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor just last December. He passed away in May of this year, but the destroyer Ross, U.S.S. Ross, will pay tribute to Captain Ross in a way that will always live. The second ship is in a sense named for all who fought at Pearl Harbor, indeed for the entire generation of young men and women who entered the service inspired by the heroism of that day.…
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