George W. Bush: “We will be forever grateful for their service and sacrifice.”

Being your President was a high privilege, and the honor of a lifetime.

Is it in our interest that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is. On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your hard work and God bless you.

That is the America I know.

We learned that bravery is more common than we imagined, emerging with sudden splendor in the face of death.