Statement on Memorial Day

May 25, 2003

On this Memorial Day, I wish to share my profound respect for the men and women who have laid down their lives in service to their country. Theirs has been the ultimate sacrifice, and to all of them we owe nothing less than full commitment to the American ideals which they died defending.

In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Abraham Lincoln said that it was for us, the living, 'to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.'

Our work is still unfinished, and if we are to honor our fallen heroes, we are bound by duty to work every day toward strengthening our democracy and our United States, so that as Lincoln implored, a government of the people, by the people, for the people does not perish from the earth.

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