President Bush paid tribute to the nation's military men and women on Monday, delivering a speech at Arlington Cemetery, then laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. AP:President Bush paid tribute Monday to America's fighting men and women who died in battle, saying national leaders must have "the courage and character to follow their lead" in preserving peace and freedom..
"On this Memorial Day, I stand before you as the commander in chief and try to tell you how proud I am," Bush told an audience of military figures, veterans and their families at Arlington National Cemetery. Of the men and women buried in this hallowed cemetery, he said, "They're an awesome bunch of people and the United States is blessed to have such citizens."
Bush and his wife, Laura, traveled from the White House across the Potomac River to the rolling hillsides of Arlington National Cemetery, where he first placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and then went to an amphitheater to speak of those who "made the ultimate sacrifice to allow a free civilization to endure and flourish."
The people who wear the U.S. uniform, the president said, represent "the last best hope for mankind."
His Memorial Day outing came with the war in Iraq now in its sixth year and a day after Bush welcomed to the White House members of the Rolling Thunder motorcycling group, who gave him a cowhide vest jacket and made him an honorary member of their organization.
In his talk Monday, Bush said, "It is a solemn reminder of the cost of freedom that the number of headstones in a place like this grows with every new Memorial Day." "It only remains for us, the heirs of their legacy, to have the courage and the character to follow their lead to preserve America as the greatest nation on earth and the last best hope for mankind," he said.
"The men and women we honor here served for liberty. They sacrificed for liberty, and in countless acts of courage they died for liberty," Bush added. "From far away lands they were returned to cemeteries like this one where broken hearts received their broken bodies. They found peace beneath the white head stones in the land they fought to defend."
"In a world where freedom is constantly under attack and in a world where our security is challenged," he said, "the joys of liberty are often purchased by the sacrifices of those who serve a cause greater than themselves."
"Today we lift up our hearts, especially to those who have fallen in the past year," the president said
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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