| Remarks by Governor Kulongoski |
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| November 11, 2005 |
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Lewis and Clark Destination Pacific Commemoration
Thank you Senator Johnson for your introduction – and for leading Oregon’s Lewis and Clark Bi-Centennial Organization with an enthusiasm, intelligence and drive that could have earned you membership in the Corp of Discovery.
Fortunately for us, you were born too late to impress President Jefferson – but not too late to make this Commemoration one of the great moments in Oregon’s cultural history.
It is a great honor for me to join Governor Gregoire, our native brothers and sisters, Congressman Baird, Major General Rees, visiting Adjutant Generals, the many people from Oregon and Washington who have worked tirelessly on this commemoration, and most of all – the men and women of the Oregon National Guard and the Washington National Guard.
Today is Veterans Day, and if there was ever a day to celebrate courage and the human spirit – this is it. First – the courage of the Clatsop, Chinook, Yakima, Nez Perce, Wallawalla and other tribes who lived in harmony with this beautiful but rugged land centuries before the Corp of Discovery began their search for a Northwest Passage.
Second – the courage of Lewis and Clark. This is what Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal exactly two hundred years ago tomorrow: “It would be distressing to a feeling person to see our situation at this time, all wet and cold . . . in a cove scarcely large enough to contain us.” This one journal entry barely begins to describe the obstacles the Corp of Discovery faced two hundred years ago: Pitiless weather. Disease. Rotting clothes. And apparently not much experience in managing the public’s money. In 1805 – with Ft. Clatsop built but their journey only half over – Lewis and Clark had already spent 95-percent of their budget.
The third face of courage that we honor today belongs to the men and women who put on the uniform and served our nation nobly –and well – as soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. In August, I was in Vancouver Washington to pay tribute to veterans from the Greatest Generation. A half century ago – these brave men and women literally saved the world. Now they’re older now and do not move as quickly as they once did.
But if you look in their eyes you can see: They’re still proud. They’re still patriots. And if they had to bear the hardships of war all over again – they would. The same is true for our Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War vets – they fought with courage, served with honor, and came home heroes. Every war is different. And every war must eventually stand and be judged before the bar of history. But we must never confuse the war with the warriors.
For our veterans, differences in the time and place of battle do not matter. What matters is that every generation of American veterans is tied to every other generation – going all the way back to Lewis and Clark. William Clark was a commissioned officer, and Meriwether Lewis began his military career by volunteering to serve under President Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion. So for all of our veterans, there is unity in their purpose – and purpose to their valor and sacrifice.
Today, as part of this Lewis and Clark commemoration, I want to say a few heartfelt words about our newest generation of veterans, especially the citizen-soldiers serving in the national guards of Oregon and Washington.
The historian Stephen Ambrose wrote many books, but his two most famous are about D-Day and about the Corp of Discovery. I don’t think this is a coincidence. Ambrose understood that the values that inspired Lewis and Clark and the values that inspire all of our veterans are the same. Those values are love of country. Commitment to duty. Courage while walking in the shadow of death. And most of all – a willingness to leave behind the comfort of home and family to answer our nation’s call for sacrifice.
This willingness to sacrifice has not been lost on our troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many have already given their lives bearing the American flag on their shoulder – and American principles in their heart. Their families have also sacrificed. Sometimes by enduring a long and lonely wait – other times by enduring war’s heaviest burden: Grief over the loss of a loved one.
But there are two important differences between the battles fought by today’s veterans – and those of previous generations. The first is the number of National Guard soldiers on the frontlines. Never in our history has so much, been asked of so many citizen-soldiers, over so long a period of time.
Many of these young men and women are serving multiple tours on the most dangerous battlefields. Next week I will welcome home from Iraq two units of the Oregon National Guard that I deployed almost 18 months ago. And next spring I’ll deploy 700 more Oregon National Guard soldiers to Afghanistan. This is the same unit that conducted rescue operations in the flood waters of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.
As their Commander-in-Chief, my pride in these National Guard soldiers – and all of the heroes from Oregon serving in the armed forces – knows no bounds. They carry out their duty with skill and professionalism – asking nothing in return except that we recognize their sacrifice and look out for their families. I think most Americans do recognize their sacrifice – but only from the sidelines. That is the second major difference between veterans from previous conflicts and today’s veterans. Our young men and women now in harms way – and their families – are carrying the weight of war on their backs, and their backs alone.
This is morally wrong and in contradiction of our long history of taking on the hardest challenges – and sharing both triumph and sacrifice as one nation. That is what happened when the Corp of Discovery took up the challenge of reaching the Pacific – and turned our founding vision of “We the people” into “We the people of continental America.”
Yes, we are duty-bound to honor veterans on Veterans Day. But that is not enough. At a time when we are asking the best of Oregon and Washington to make the ultimate sacrifice – every citizen of this nation should be asked to give up something too. To do otherwise is to weaken our principles – and our security. Here is how somebody who knew something about fighting for his country put it: “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.” Those are the words of George Washington – and two of the “veterans of earlier wars” he may have had in mind were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
There are many ways to show our appreciation of veterans, including acknowledging their heroism at the same time we acknowledge the heroism of the Corp of Discovery. But more important for our veterans than remembering the past is sending them the right message about the future – a message that says: We are all in this together! That is what the Lewis and Clark and the members of the Corp told each other as they prepared for the long winter of 1805. Our newest veterans deserve nothing less.
Thank you. And God bless America.
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