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Memorial Day Ceremony, Nettuno, Italy, 5/28/89 [2]
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4
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 23, 1989
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
w
CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
EDWARD E. McNALLY and
SUBJECT:
MEMORIAL DAY SPEECH AT THE AMERICAN CEMETERY,
NETTUNO, ITALY
I. SUMMARY
Attached for your consideration and review are draft remarks
for your Memorial Day address, to be given on Memorial Day Sunday
at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno,
Italy.
II. DISCUSSION
At 10:00 a.m. (Italy time) on Sunday, May 28, 1989, you are
scheduled to travel to the American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy,
to lay a Memorial Day wreath --- commemorating all our veterans
who have fallen in battle.
In part because the military campaign at nearby Anzio
remains controversial, the suggested remarks are not particularly
directed at the Italians, NATO, or even the armed services.
Rather, the remarks were drafted as a Presidential Memorial Day
message, directed at the heartland audience back home where
families will be preparing to celebrate an American tradition.
Located just east of Anzio, about an hour's drive from Rome,
the American Cemetery at Nettuno is one of fourteen sites in
foreign countries that were selected after World War II as
permanent American cemeteries. A grassy, tree-lined field of
white crosses, the cemetery is somewhat reminiscent of Arlington
National Cemetery. Nearly all of the almost 8,000 soldiers
buried there are American, and nearly all fought in the 1943-44
liberation of Italy, from the invasion of Sicily to the fall of
Rome. A small number also came from Canada, England, Scotland,
Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Spain.
(McNally/Simon)
May 23, 1989
5.00 p.m.
Draft Four
(B:NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETERY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbecue smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American traditions.
As morning comes to Indianapolis the smells of coffee and
gasoline will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked
raceway. Further west, there'll be another race, as the blast of
a ship's whistle sends the riverboats Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
steaming down the Mississippi off the docks of St. Louis.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time today's ceremony
concludes the first rays of sunlight will streak across the
Potomac, flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our
Republic, then reaching down to touch the silent rows of white
markers on the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington
2
Cemetery. Soon the gathering light will reveal a lone figure --
a man in uniform -- standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldiers, a round the clock vigil unbroken in more than fifty
years. Another moment and the dawn will flood the park that lays
beneath the gaze of Lincoln, embracing the candles that flicker
each night along the walls of the Vietnam Memorial.
And soon the plaintive sound of taps will rise in the wind
in cities and hamlets all across America, heard by veterans of
four wars, as they gather to salute the fallen. In town after
town the ritual at sunrise will be the same, as first the flag is
raised, then slowly lowered to half-mast.
The thoughts of some will turn eastward toward the sun --
across the ocean and across four decades -- to this grassy plain
above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45 years ago the
U.S. Third Infantry Division -- among the most decorated in World
War II -- led the bloody advance toward the liberation of Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the U.S.S. San Jacinto on the other side of the
world as she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like
Americans everywhere, the men aboard our ship had eagerly
followed news of the Italian campaign.
During four long months of 1944, the combatants of World War
II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before the
week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would be
changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th, American
troops entered Rome, the streets lined by cheering Italians. By
3
midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on the banks of
the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting America: For the
first time since the landings at Salerno in September 1943, the
enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the Normandy landing.
The fight to liberate Italy from the tyranny of fascism was
as fierce and heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each
adversary was such that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang at that moment on the valor and the vigor of each man who
struggled near the water's edge.
One such soldier was Sgt. Sylvester Antolak, an Ohio
farmboy and the youngest son of Polish immigrants. On a drizzly
morning forty-five years ago this week, he led Staff Sgt. Audie
Murphy and others in a bold charge through the rain and the ruin
near Cisterna -- one man against a machinegun nest that blocked
the road to Rome.
Three times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got
back up, tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the
time he had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered
to this man whom their bullets could not stop.
Sgt. Antolak fell near Cisterna that same day. He rests
here beneath the cedars of Nettuno with nearly 8,000 soldiers,
his grave one of two marked with the Congressional Medal of
Honor. Joined by the names of another 3,000 missing etched in
the white marble of the chapel, they come from every American
4
state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to Florida. And these white
crosses and Stars of David ring the world -- across the
battlefields of Europe and the jungles of Asia, the deserts of
north Africa, the hillsides of our homeland -- in silent tribute
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the campaign to
liberate Italy -- and the sacrifices of millions of other
Europeans and Americans in the cause of freedom -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward-looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war,
and to preserve freedom and democracy. The answer is here, among
the quiet of the graves.
The cost of maintaining freedom is brought home to us all
when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressive were the many expressions of sympathy I received from
leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent words
5
of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as he
shared the sorrow of our loss.
Sgt. Antolak also understood the cost of freedom. Today in
his hometown of St. Clairesville, Ohio -- population 6,000 -- the
townspeople will gather by the local courthouse to dedicate a
white granite memorial to the county's Medal of Honor winners.
George and Stanley Antolak will be there -- to remember their
brother -- their hero, and ours.
It is the kind of scene that will be repeated today and
tomorrow in parks and churchyards all across America.
A bit north of Mark Twain's Hannibal -- just up the
Mississippi from that steamboat race I mentioned -- lies the town
of Quincy, Illinois. When World War II came, Quincy offered up
her sons in service. Three brothers -- Donald, Preston, and
William Kaspervik -- joined the Army Air Corps. Their story is a
common one -- and yet uncommon in the way of all those who
answered the call to serve.
The first brother, Donald, was killed when two bombers
collided on maneuvers in New Mexico, and their mother grieved.
Preston, the second brother, died just south of here in Sicily,
shortly after Patton's successful invasion. And their mother was
overcome once again.
Ten days later, the third brother, William went down during
a dangerous bombing mission over the mountains of central Italy.
On the day of his death, his mother received a letter from him,
6
urging her not to worry. When the third telegram came, his
mother could not bring herself to answer the door.
William and Preston Kaspervik are buried here side by side
-- in soil they helped to free. Brothers in life, brothers in
arms, brothers in eternity.
Their mother died 20 years ago. But back home in Quincy,
the extraordinary sacrifice of this ordinary American family is
still remembered. And today, as they do every year, the VFW and
the American Legion will honor Quincy's fallen natives with a
hometown parade down Main Street, high above the banks of the
Mississippi.
As we gather today, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day
Weekend. And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images
both here and at home are of countries that are prosperous and
secure, countries confident of their place in the world and aware
of the responsibility that comes with that place.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
on the half hour. At Gettysburg, the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
7
And with that prayer, I ask that you join in your own silent
prayers as we place a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of
those buried here at Nettuno -- and the sacrifice of all men and
women who have given their lives for freedom.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 23, 1989
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESIDENT
FROM:
DAN MCGROARTY Dur
THROUGH: CHRISS WINSTON
w
RE:
ARRIVAL STATEMENT - BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
I. SUMMARY
On Sunday, May 28, at 6:00 p.m., you will deliver a
statement after you have arrived in Belgium. You will be greeted
by Belgian Prime Minister Martens.
II. DISCUSSION
The statement discusses the important role Belgium plays in
the Atlantic Alliance, and the opportunities you look forward to
in the course of the NATO discussions.
McGroarty/Dooley
May 23, 1989
6:00 p.m.
Draft 2
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: BRUSSELS ARRIVAL STATEMENT
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
MAY 28, 1989
It is a pleasure to be back once again in Brussels, and I am
especially pleased that my first visit as President of the United
States comes as the nations of NATO celebrate 40 years of
alliance --- and the longest period of peace and freedom Europe
has known in the modern age.
Americans and Belgians share the memories of war and hard-
won peace in this century. Flanders, the Battle of the Ardennes,
Bastogne: those names are part of our history as well as your
own -- part of our shared heritage of freedom, and the sacrifices
it requires.
Belgium -- no stranger to conquest and division --
recognized from the first the importance of alliance in the post-
war world. Today, as permanent home to NATO and the European
Community, Brussels stands at the center of a Europe free, at
peace, and prosperous as never before -- a Europe that is
steadily moving towards a single market, and unprecedented
political and economic opportunities. In Brussels, the signs of
this European renaissance are everywhere.
Belgium has been a good friend and a valued ally -- one that
has always acted with alliance interests in mind. Early in this
decade, Belgium was one of five NATO nations that made the
difficult decision to base INF systems on its soil. Those
deployments gave us the leverage we needed to negotiate the
first-ever nuclear arms reduction treaty. That's the kind of
courageous and realistic approach that explains NATO's success.
NATO is at once ready to ensure the common defense, and, when
Soviet actions -- not just words -- warrant it, to reduce arms
and seek to diminish tensions with the East.
I am looking forward to important discussions with King
Baudouin [BOW-DWIN] and the NATO heads of government. I look
forward as well to my meeting with Prime Minister Martens, my
discussions with President Delors of the European Community and
Secretary General Woerner of NATO.
The future of NATO depends on the Alliance's ability to deal
with our enduring security concerns and our evolving economic
relationship. We look to Belgium to continue to play its
important role in our close and cooperative transatlantic
partnership.
Thank you.
# # #.
Simon edits
(McNally/Simon)
May 22, 1989
10:00 a.m.
10/23
Draft Two
(B: NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETERY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbecue smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American traditions.
gasoline
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway.
Further west, there'll be another race, as the blast of a ship's
whistle sends the riverboats Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer steaming
down the Mississippi off the docks of St. Louis.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time today's ceremony
concludes the first rays of sunlight will streak across the
Potomac, flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our
Republic, then reaching down to touch the silent rows of white
markers on the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington
2
Cemetery. Soon the gathering light will reveal a lone figure --
a man in uniform -- standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a
24 hour vigil unbroken in more than fifty years. Another moment
and the dawn will flood the park that lays beneath the gaze of
Lincoln, embracing the candles that flicker each night along the
walls of the Vietnam Memorial.
And soon the plaintive sound of taps will rise in the wind
in cities and hamlets all across America, heard by veterans of
four wars, as they gather in cities and hamlets to salute the
fallen. In town after town the ritual at sunrise will be the
same, as first the flag is raised, then slowly lowered to half-
mast.
The thoughts of some will turn eastward toward the sun --
across the ocean and across four decades -- to this grassy plain
above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45 years ago the
among
U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated in World War
II -- led the bloody advance on Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the U.S.S. San Jacinto on the other side of the
world as she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like
Americans everywhere, the men aboard our ship had eagerly
followed news of the Italian campaign.
During four long months of 1944, the combatants of World War
II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before the
week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would be
changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th, American
Note: It is against a 40 year army policy two say one wint is
better them another, or who won the most medals.
Besides, this could offend all the other veterans of different units.
3
troops liberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering Italians.
By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on the banks of
the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting America: For the
first time since the landings at Salerno in September 1943, the
enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France.
The fight to liberate Italy from the tyranny of fascism was
as fierce and heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each
adversary was such that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment, on the valor and the vigor of each man who
struggled near the water's edge.
One such soldier was Sgt. Sylvester Antolak, an Ohio
farmboy and the youngest son of Polish immigrants. On a drizzly
morning forty-five years ago this week, he led Staff Sgt. Audie
Murphy and others in a bold charge through the rain and the ruin
near Cisterna -- one man against a machinegun nest that blocked
the road to Rome.
Three times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got
remaining good
back up, tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the
X
time he had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered
to this man whom their bullets could not stop.
Sgt. Antolak fell near Cisterna that same day. He rests
stet
here beneath the cedars of Nettuno with nearly 8,000 soldiers,
his grave one of two marked with the Congressional Medal of
Honor. Joined by the names of another 3,000 missing etched in
Note: Right arm was shattered He tuched the
gun under his left arm.
4
the white marble of the chapel, they come from every American
state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to Florida. And these white
crosses and Stars of David ring the world -- across the
battlefields of Europe and the jungles of Asia, the deserts of
north Africa, the mountains of the Americas -- in silent tribute
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the liberation of
Italy -- and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh
in mind that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward-looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war.
The answer is here, among the quiet of the graves.
The cost of maintaining freedom is brought home to us all
when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressive were the many expressions of sympathy I received from
leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent words
of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as he
shared the sorrow of our loss.
5
Sgt. Antolak also understood the cost of freedom. Today in
his hometown of St. Clairesville, Ohio -- population 6,000 -- the
townspeople will gather by the local courthouse to dedicate a
white granite memorial to the county's Medal of Honor winners.
George and Stanley Antolak will be there -- to remember their
brother -- their hero, and ours.
It is the kind of scene that will be repeated today and
tomorrow in parks and churchyards all across America.
A bit north of Mark Twain's Hannibal -- just up the
Mississippi from that steamboat race I mentioned -- lies the town
of Quincy, Illinois. When World War II came, Quincy offered up
her sons in service. Three brothers -- Donald, Preston, and
William Kaspervik -- joined the Army Air Corps. They were
ordinary Americans -- and yet extraordinary in the way of all
those who answered the call to serve.
The first brother, Donald, was killed when two bombers
collided on maneuvers in New Mexico, and their mother grieved.
Preston, the second brother, died just south of here in Sicily,
shortly after Patton's successful invasion. And their mother was
overcome once again.
Ten days later, the third brother, William went down during
a dangerous bombing mission over the mountains of central Italy.
On the day of his death, his mother received a letter from him,
urging her not to worry. When the third telegram came, his
mother could not bring herself to answer the door.
6
William and Preston Kaspervik are buried here side by side
-- in soil they helped to free. Brothers in life, brothers in
arms, brothers in eternity.
Mama died 20 years ago and their memory has faded in Quincy.
Only their sister-in-law, Lillian Slater, still carries it with
her.
Yet later today, as they do every year, the Quincy VFW and
the American Legion will lead the hometown parade down Main
Street. At the finish, down by the cemetery near the Soldiers
and Sailors Home, no children, no army buddies remain to salute
the particular memory of the Kasperviks -- to honor the ordinary,
extraordinary sacrifice of this fine American family. On this
distant shore -- so far from home -- they will be remembered by
Lillian Slater -- and -- by us.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images at home
are of a country that is prosperous and secure, a country
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
on the half hour. At Gettysburg, the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
7
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I ask that you join in your own silent
prayers as we place a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of
those buried here at Nettuno -- and the sacrifice of all men and
women who have given their lives for freedom
#
#
#
Document No.
038098
3885
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
05/19/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 a.m. Monday 05/22
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY, AMERICAN CEMETARY,
NETTUNO, ITALY
(05/18 4:00 pm draft one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide any comments/recommendations directly to Chriss
Winston (Rm. 122 x2930) by 10:00 a.m. on Monday 05/22, with an
info copy to my office. Thanks.
May 23, 1989
RESPONSE:
TO: CHRISS WINSTON
The NSC concurs on the attached draft with changes as noted.
Brent Scowcroft
Hilip perfeb bates
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
CC: James Cicconi
Ext. 2702
your REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
(McNally/Simon)
May 18, 1989
4:00 p.m.
Draft One
(B: NETTUNO)
AMERICAN CEMETARY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
Prime
[or President, if Cossiga officiates]
Mr. Prime Minister, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
gave their times all
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbeque smoke.
[ Qrop
And the rites of summer are marked by American rituals.
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
roar of engines + the squealing of times
Intively sentance
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway. Off
the docks of St. Louis the legacy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
the taste
will be remembered with the annual riverboat race.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time this ceremony concludes
the first rays of sunlight will streak across the Potomac River,
flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our Republic,
then reaching down to touch the rows of silent white markers on
n
harbon
the green Virginia hillside that IS Arlington Cemetary. Soon the
gathering light will reveal the lone figure of a man in uniform,
2
?
standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a 24 hour
tradition that dates back more than fifty years.
the bugle playing
And soon the sound of taps will rise in the wind all across
America, heard by veterans, young and old, as they gather in
cities and hamlets to salute the fallen, to slowly raise the flag
to half-mast. Some will turn their thoughts here, to this
peaceful hilltop above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45
years ago the U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated
toward the liberation of
in the war -- led the bloody advance on Rome.
this
On that Memorial Day Weekend 1944 -- I was not yet 20,-
two
^
standing aboard the San Jacinto on the other side of the world as
she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like most Americans,
the men aboard my ship had eagerly followed news of the Italian
campaign.
During four long months of that year the combatants of World
War II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before
the week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would
be changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th
entered
American troops iberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering
Italians. By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on
the banks of the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting
America: For the first time since the landings at Salerno in
September 1943, the enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France Normandy landing.
3
The fighting in the Italian campaign was as fierce and
heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each adversary was
and intensity
of such magnitude that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment on the courage, skill, and stamina of those
e
who struggled near the water's edge. In this cemetary lies Sgt.
Sylvester Antolak who An Ohio farmboy and the youngest son of
Polish immigrants, 45 years ago this week he lost his life not
?
far from where we stand -- and won the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
Audie Murphy was among those who followed as Sgt. Antolak
charged a machinegun nest near the Cisterna beachhead. Three
times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got back up,
tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the time he
had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered to this
man whom their bullets could not stop.
Side by side under another set of crosses lie two of the
three Kaspervik brothers of Quincy, Illinois. All three served
in the Army Air Corps, all three died in action, these two killed
ten days apart in 1944.
All told nearly 8,000 soldiers rest beneath the cedars of
e
Nettuno cemetary, joined by another 3,000 missing whose names are
etched in the white Carrara marble of the chapel. They come from
every American state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to
Florida. Twelve are women, 109 are buried beneath Stars of
David, 490 are unidentified -- known but to God. And the white
crosses you see before you ring the world -- across the
4
battlefields of Europe and in the mountains of Asia, the deserts
of north Africa, the jungles of Latin America -- silent testimony
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
toliberate
British and French soldiers who fell during the Italian campaign
staly
the secrifices of
in the cause of freedom)
m and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war
and to preserve - freedom K democracy
The answer is here, among the silent graves.
the Illiance
The cost of maintaining that deterrent is brought home to us
[Orp]
all when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressed I was by the many expressions of sympathy I received
from leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent
words of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as
he shared the sorrow of our loss.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
both here and
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images / at home
are of a country ies that are 1S prosperous and secure, country
ies
5
of the responsibilities come with that
their
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
at the half hour. At Gettysburg, the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
In the kind of scene that will be repeated in small towns
all across our nation, the American Legion in St. Clairsville,
Ohio -- population 6,000 -- will dedicate a white granite
monument in front of the courthouse to Sgt. Antolak, the Medal of
Honor winner buried here. Two surviving brothers will attend.
One of them, George, served in the South Pacific and was awarded
the Purple Heart.
And as they do every year, the Legion in Quincy, Illinois --
just up the Mississippi from Hannibal -- will sponsor a parade
down Main Street to honor fallen natives like the three Kaspervik
brothers.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I will join Prime Minister
in placing a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of those buried
here at Nettuno.
To BE
(President Cossige)/(Prime
DETERMINED
Minister De mita)
MASTER
(McNally/Simon)
May 22, 1989
10:00 a.m.
Draft Two
(B:NETTUNO)
advises. deleted-
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETERY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
studded P.M. be
10:00 A.M.
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbecue smoke.
(stathaditions
And the rites of summer are marked by American traditions.
gasoline
slighter
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway.
Further west, there'll be another race, as the blast of a ship's
whistle sends the riverboats Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer steaming
down the Mississippi off the docks of St. Louis.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time today's ceremony
concludes the first rays of sunlight will streak across the
Potomac, flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our
Republic, then reaching down to touch the silent rows of white
markers on the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington
2
Cemetery. Soon the gathering light will reveal a lone figure --
a man in uniform -- standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a
24 hour vigil unbroken in more than fifty years. Another moment
added
and the dawn will flood the park that lays beneath the gaze of
Lincoln, embracing the candles that flicker each night along the
walls of the Vietnam Memorial.
And soon the plaintive sound of taps will rise in the wind
slightley
in cities and hamlets all across America, heard by veterans of
four wars, as they gather in cities and hamlets. to salute the
fallen. In town after town the ritual at sunrise will be the
same, as first the flag is raised, then slowly lowered to half-
mast.
The thoughts of some will turn eastward toward the sun --
across the ocean and across four decades -- to this grassy plain
above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45 years ago the
U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated in World War
II -- led the bloody advance on Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the U.S.S. San Jacinto on the other side of the
world as she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like
Americans everywhere, the men aboard our ship had eagerly
followed news of the Italian campaign.
During four long months of 1944, the combatants of World War
II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before the
week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would be
changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th, American
3
troops liberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering Italians.
By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on the banks of
the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting America: For the
first time since the landings at Salerno in September 1943, the
enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France.
per
The fight to liberate Italy from the tyranny of fascism was
studeet
as fierce and heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each
adversary was such that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment, on the valor and the vigor of each man who
struggled near the water's edge.
One such soldier was Sgt. Sylvester Antolak, an Ohio
farmboy and the youngest son of Polish immigrants. On a drizzly
morning forty-five years ago this week, he led Staff Sgt. Audie
Murphy and others in a bold charge through the rain and the ruin
near Cisterna -- one man against a machinegun nest that blocked
the road to Rome.
Three times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got
back up, tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the
time he had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered
to this man whom their bullets could not stop.
Sgt. Antolak fell near Cisterna that same day. He rests
here beneath the cedars of Nettuno with nearly 8,000 soldiers,
his grave one of two marked with the Congressional Medal of
Honor. Joined by the names of another 3,000 missing etched in
4
the white marble of the chapel, they come from every American
state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to Florida. And these white
crosses and Stars of David ring the world -- across the
battlefields of Europe and the jungles of Asia, the deserts of
2
north Africa, the mountains of the Americas -- in silent tribute
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
Bob Semon possible
British and French soldiers who fell during the liberation of
Italy -- and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh
in mind that NATO was created after the war.
this
this IP? P2.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward-looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war.
The answer is here, among the quiet of the graves.
The cost of maintaining freedom is brought home to us all
when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressive were the many expressions of sympathy I received from
leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent words
of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as he
shared the sorrow of our loss.
5
Sgt. Antolak also understood the cost of freedom. Today in
his hometown of St. Clairesville, Ohio -- population 6,000 -- the
townspeople will gather by the local courthouse to dedicate a
white granite memorial to the county's Medal of Honor winners.
George and Stanley Antolak will be there -- to remember their
brother -- their hero, and ours.
It is the kind of scene that will be repeated today and
tomorrow in parks and churchyards all across America.
outby
A bit north of Mark Twain's Hannibal -- just up the
Mississippi from that steamboat race I mentioned -- lies the town
of Quincy, Illinois. When World War II came, Quincy offered up
her sons in service. Three brothers -- Donald, Preston, and
William Kaspervik -- joined the Army Air Corps. They were
ordinary Americans -- and yet extraordinary in the way of all
those who answered the call to serve.
The first brother, Donald, was killed when two bombers
collided on maneuvers in New Mexico, and their mother grieved.
Preston, the second brother, died just south of here in Sicily,
shortly after Patton's successful invasion. And their mother was
overcome once again.
Ten days later, the third brother, William went down during
a dangerous bombing mission over the mountains of central Italy.
On the day of his death, his mother received a letter from him,
urging her not to worry. When the third telegram came, his
mother could not bring herself to answer the door.
6
William and Preston Kaspervik are buried here side by side
-- in soil they helped to free. Brothers in life, brothers in
arms, brothers in eternity.
MRS Theirmother
Mama died 20 years ago and their memory has faded in Quincy.
Only their sister-in-law, Lillian Slater, still carries it with
e(stet)
her.
Yet later today, as they do every year, the Quincy VFW and
the American Legion will lead the hometown parade down Main
Street. At the finish, down by the cemetery near the Soldiers
and Sailors Home, no children, no army buddies remain to salute
2
the particular memory of the Kasperviks -- to honor the ordinary,
extraordinary sacrifice of this fine American family. But, On this
distant shore -- so far from home -- they will be remembered by
Lillian Slater -- and -- by us.
mondfas the per D.D.
As we gather it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images at home
are of a country that is prosperous and secure, a country
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
on the half hour. At Gettysburg, the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
7
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I ask that you join in your own silent
prayers as we place a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of
those buried here at Nettuno -- and the sacrifice of all men and
women who have given their lives for freedom
#
#
#
038098
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
05/19/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 a.m. Monday 05/22
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY, AMERICAN CEMETARY,
NETTUNO, ITALY
(05/18 4:00 pm draft one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide any comments/recommendations directly to Chriss
Winston (Rm. 122 x2930) by 10:00 a.m. on Monday 05/22, with an
info copy to my office. Thanks.
RESPONSE:
security
James W, Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally/Simon)
May 18, 1989
4:00 p.m.
Draft One
(B: NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETARY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
Mr. Prime Minister, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze wafting pungent with the scent of barbeque smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American rituals.
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway. Off
the docks of St. Louis the legacy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
will be remembered with the annual riverboat race.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time this ceremony concludes
the first rays of sunlight will streak across the Potomac River,
flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our Republic,
then reaching down to touch the rows of silent white markers on
the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington Cemetary. Soon the
gathering light will reveal the lone figure of a man in uniform,
2
standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a 24 hour
tradition that dates back more than fifty years.
And soon the sound of taps will rise in the wind all across
America, heard by veterans, young and old, as they gather in
cities and hamlets to salute the fallen, to slowly raise the flag
to half-mast. Some will turn their thoughts here, to this
peaceful hilltop above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45
years ago the U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated
in the war -- led the bloody advance on Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the San Jacinto on the other side of the world as
she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like most Americans,
the men aboard my ship had eagerly followed news of the Italian
campaign.
During four long months of that year the combatants of World
War II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before
the week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would
be changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th
American troops liberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering
Italians. By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on
the banks of the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting
America: For the first time since the landings at Salerno in
September 1943, the enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France.
3
The fighting in the Italian campaign was as fierce and
heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each adversary was
of such magnitude that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment, on the courage, skill, and stamina of those
who struggled near the water's edge. In this cemetary lies Sgt.
Sylvester Antolak. An Ohio farmboy and the youngest son of
Polish immigrants, 45 years ago this week he lost his life not
far from where we stand -- and won the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
Audie Murphy was among those who followed as Sgt. Antolak
charged a machinegun nest near the Cisterna beachhead. Three
times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got back up,
tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the time he
had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered to this
man whom their bullets could not stop.
Side by side under another set of crosses lie two of the
three Kaspervik brothers of Quincy, Illinois. All three served
in the Army Air Corps, all three died in action, these two killed
ten days apart in 1944.
All told nearly 8,000 soldiers rest beneath the cedars of
Nettuno cemetary, joined by another 3,000 missing whose names are
etched in the white Carrara marble of the chapel. They come from
every American state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to
Florida. Twelve are women, 109 are buried beneath Stars of
David, 490 are unidentified -- known but to God. And the white
crosses you see before you ring the world -- across the
4
battlefields of Europe and in the mountains of Asia, the deserts
of north Africa, the jungles of Latin America -- silent testimony
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the Italian campaign
-- and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war.
The answer is here, among the silent graves.
The cost of maintaining that deterrent is brought home to us
all when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
were the
impress H was by the many expressions of sympathy I received
from leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent
words of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as
he shared the sorrow of our loss. (almout suggests a quote
y
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images at home
This
are of a country that is prosperous and secure, a country
repeat should be just before the close-here it just looks
redundant. Following it with the magery of there the
?
Arlergton soldier is good- pechaps end
5
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
at the half hour. At Gettysburg the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
In the kind of scene that will be repeated in small towns
all across our nation, the American Legion in St. Clairsville,
Ohio -- population 6,000 -- will dedicate a white granite
monument in front of the courthouse to Sgt. Antolak, the Medal of
Honor winner buried here. Two surviving brothers will attend.
One of them, George, served in the South Pacific and was awarded
the Purple Heart.
And as they do every year, the Legion in Quincy, Illinois --
just up the Mississippi from Hannibal -- will sponsor a parade
down Main Street to honor fallen natives like the three Kaspervik
brothers.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I will join Prime Minister
in placing a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of those buried
here at Nettuno.
Document No.
038098
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
05/19/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 a.m. Monday 05/22
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY, AMERICAN CEMETARY,
NETTUNO, ITALY
(05/18 4:00 pm draft one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide any comments/recommendations directly to Chriss
Winston (Rm. 122 x2930) by 10:00 a.m. on Monday 05/22, with an
info copy to my office. Thanks.
RESPONSE:
see suggested edit on page 1
offer
5/22
James W, Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally/Simon)
May 18, 1989
4:00 p.m.
Draft One
(B:NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETARY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
Mr. Prime Minister, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbeque smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American rituals.
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway. Off
the docks of St. Louis the legacy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
will be remembered with the annual riverboat race.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time this ceremony concludes
the first rays of sunlight will streak across the Potomac River,
flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our Republic,
then reaching down to touch the rows of silent white markers on
the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington Cemetary. Soon the
gathering light will reveal the lone figure of a man in uniform,
2
standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a 24 hour
tradition that dates back more than fifty years.
And soon the sound of taps will rise in the wind all across
America, heard by veterans, young and old, as they gather in
cities and hamlets to salute the fallen, to slowly raise the flag
to half-mast. Some will turn their thoughts here, to this
peaceful hilltop above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45
years ago the U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated
in the war -- led the bloody advance on Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the San Jacinto on the other side of the world as
she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like most Americans,
the men aboard my ship had eagerly followed news of the Italian
campaign.
During four long months of that year the combatants of World
War II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before
the week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would
be changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th
American troops liberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering
Italians. By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on
the banks of the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting
America: For the first time since the landings at Salerno in
September 1943, the enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France.
3
The fighting in the Italian campaign was as fierce and
heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each adversary was
of such magnitude that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment, on the courage, skill, and stamina of those
who struggled near the water's edge. In this cemetary lies Sgt.
Sylvester Antolak. An Ohio farmboy and the youngest son of
Polish immigrants, 45 years ago this week he lost his life not
far from where we stand -- and won the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
Audie Murphy was among those who followed as Sgt. Antolak
charged a machinegun nest near the Cisterna beachhead. Three
times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got back up,
tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the time he
had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered to this
man whom their bullets could not stop.
Side by side under another set of crosses lie two of the
three Kaspervik brothers of Quincy, Illinois. All three served
in the Army Air Corps, all three died in action, these two killed
ten days apart in 1944.
All told nearly 8,000 soldiers rest beneath the cedars of
Nettuno cemetary, joined by another 3,000 missing whose names are
etched in the white Carrara marble of the chapel. They come from
every American state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to
Florida. Twelve are women, 109 are buried beneath Stars of
David, 490 are unidentified -- known but to God. And the white
crosses you see before you ring the world -- across the
4
battlefields of Europe and in the mountains of Asia, the deserts
of north Africa, the jungles of Latin America -- silent testimony
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the Italian campaign
-- and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war.
The answer is here, among the silent graves.
The cost of maintaining that deterrent is brought home to us
all when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressed I was by the many expressions of sympathy I received
from leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent
words of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as
he shared the sorrow of our loss.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images at home
are of a country that is prosperous and secure, a country
5
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
at the half hour. At Gettysburg the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
In the kind of scene that will be repeated in small towns
all across our nation, the American Legion in St. Clairsville,
Ohio -- population 6,000 -- will dedicate a white granite
monument in front of the courthouse to Sgt. Antolak, the Medal of
Honor winner buried here. Two surviving brothers will attend.
One of them, George, served in the South Pacific and was awarded
the Purple Heart.
And as they do every year, the Legion in Quincy, Illinois --
just up the Mississippi from Hannibal -- will sponsor a parade
down Main Street to honor fallen natives like the three Kaspervik
brothers.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I will join Prime Minister
in placing a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of those buried
here at Nettuno.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 20, 1989
MEMORANDUM TO CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
JIM PINKERTON
&
SUBJECT:
Memorial Day Ceremony Speech Draft
Memorial Day Ceremony
A very good speech, full of concrete images and well-turned
phrases. It offers a full measure of devotion to America's
heroes. A few comments:
Pg. 1, para. 3, line 1 We suggest changing "rites of summer" to
"traditions of summer" so as not to use "rites" and "rituals" in
the same sentence.
2,3,2
We suggest adding "U.S.S." to "San Jacinto."
2,5,1
"It was the beginning of the end" has become a hoary,
old cliche (come to think of it, so has "hoary, old cliche").
4,1,2
We are curious about the reference to the "jungles of
Latin America." If we can avoid any stirring up of the age-old,
nettlesome European -- not to mention, Latin American --
objections to American intervention in Latin America, then we
should delete this reference. Furthermore, "jungles" is
potentially offensive to any Third World country.
#
Document No.
030048
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
05/19/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 a.m. Monday 05/22
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY, AMERICAN CEMETARY,
NETTUNO, ITALY
(05/18 4:00 pm draft one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide any comments/recommendations directly to Chriss
Winston (Rm. 122 x2930) by 10:00 a.m. on Monday 05/22, with an
info copy to my office. Thanks.
RESPONSE:
One thought: the broader notion of the "Mberation"
of Italy, mentioned by the Presidnt when l
first discussed staly Neture with
James W, Cicconi
Assistant to the President
him, seems to he missing.
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
yus
(McNally/Simon)
May 18, 1989
4:00 p.m.
Draft One
(B:NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
Not coming (as of 1030Am 5/22
AMERICAN CEMETARY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
Mr Prime Minister, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbeque smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American rituals.
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway. Off
the docks of St. Louis the legacy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
will be remembered with the annual riverboat race.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time this ceremony concludes
the first rays of sunlight will streak across the Potomac River,
flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our Republic,
then reaching down to touch the rows of silent white markers on
the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington Cemetary. Soon the
gathering light will reveal the lone figure of a man in uniform,
2
standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a 24 hour
tradition that dates back more than fifty years.
And soon the sound of taps will rise in the wind all across
America, heard by veterans, young and old, as they gather in
cities and hamlets to salute the fallen, to slowly raise the flag
to half-mast. Some will turn their thoughts here, to this
peaceful hilltop above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45
years ago the U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated
in the war -- led the bloody (too farsh?) advance on Rome.
heren?)
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the San Jacinto on the other side of the world as
she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like most Americans,
the men aboard my ship had eagerly followed news of the Italian
campaign.
During four long months of that year the combatants of World
War II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before
the week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would
be changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th
British
American troops liberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering
role?.
Italians. By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on
the banks of the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting
America: For the first time since the landings at Salerno in
September 1943, the enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France.
3
The fighting in the Italian campaign was as fierce and
heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each adversary was
of such magnitude that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment, on the courage, skill, and stamina of those
who struggled near the water's edge. In this cemetary lies Sgt.
Sylvester Antolak. An Ohio farmboy and the youngest son of
Polish immigrants, 45 years ago this week he lost his life not
far from where we stand -- and won the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
Rout?
4Audie Murphy was among those who followed as Sgt. Antolak
charged a machinegun nest near the Cisterna beachhead. Three
times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got back up,
tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the time he
had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered to this
man whom their bullets could not stop.
Side by side under another set of crosses lie two of the
three Kaspervik brothers of Quincy, Illinois. All three served
in the Army Air Corps, all three died in action, these two killed
ten days apart in 1944.
All told nearly 8,000 soldiers rest beneath the cedars of
this
Nettuno cemetary, joined by another 3,000 missing whose names are
etched in the white Carrara marble of the chapel. They come from
every American state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to
Florida. Twelve are women, 109 are buried beneath Stars of
David, 490 are unidentified -- known but to God. And the white
crosses you see before you ring the world -- across the
and Hars of David
4
battlefields of Europe and in the mountains of Asia, the deserts
of north Africa, the jungles of Latin America -- silent testimony
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the Italian campaign
-- and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war.
The answer is here, among the silent graves.
The cost of maintaining that deterrent is brought home to us
all when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressed I was by the many expressions of sympathy I received
from leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent
words of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as
he shared the sorrow of our loss.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images at home
are of a country that is prosperous and secure, a country
5
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
at the half hour. At Gettysburg the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
In the kind of scene that will be repeated in small towns
all across our nation, the American Legion in St. Clairsville,
Ohio -- population 6,000 -- will dedicate a white granite
monument in front of the courthouse to Sgt. Antolak, the Medal of
Honor winner buried here. Two surviving brothers will attend.
One of them, George, served in the South Pacific and was awarded
the Purple Heart.
And as they do every year, the Legion in Quincy, Illinois --
just up the Mississippi from Hannibal -- will sponsor a parade
down Main Street to honor fallen natives like the three Kaspervik
brothers.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I will join Prime Ministe
in placing a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of those buried
here at Nettuno.
now not coming
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 22, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
FOR COMMUNICATIONS
FROM:
NELSON LUND
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: Memorial Day Ceremony,
American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy
At the request of James W. Cicconi, Counsel's office has reviewed
the captioned draft remarks. We have no legal objections.
We appreciate having had the opportunity to review these draft
remarks.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Document No.
038098
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
05/19/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 a.m. Monday 05/22
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY, AMERICAN CEMETARY,
NETTUNO, ITALY
(05/18 4:00 pm draft one)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide any comments/recommendations directly to Chriss
Winston (Rm. 122 x2930) by 10:00 a.m. on Monday 05/22, with an
info copy to my office. Thanks.
RESPONSE:
One thought: the broader notion of the "Mberation"
of Italy, mentioned by the President when l
first discussed Staly Neture with
James W, Cicconi
Assistant to the President
him, seems to he missing.
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
SMS
(McNally/Simon)
May 18, 1989
4:00 p.m.
Draft One
(B: NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETARY
Not coming
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
Mr Prime Minister, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way SO that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbeque smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American rituals.
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway. Off
the docks of St. Louis the legacy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
will be remembered with the annual riverboat race.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time this ceremony concludes
the first rays of sunlight will streak across the Potomac River,
flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our Republic,
then reaching down to touch the rows of silent white markers on
the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington Cemetary. Soon the
gathering light will reveal the lone figure of a man in uniform,
2
standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a 24 hour
tradition that dates back more than fifty years.
And soon the sound of taps will rise in the wind all across
America, heard by veterans, young and old, as they gather in
cities and hamlets to salute the fallen, to slowly raise the flag
to half-mast. Some will turn their thoughts here, to this
peaceful hilltop above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45
years ago the U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated
harsh?)
in the war -- led the bloody advance on Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the San Jacinto on the other side of the world as
she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like most Americans,
the men aboard my ship had eagerly followed news of the Italian
campaign.
During four long months of that year the combatants of World
War II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before
the week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would
be changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th
British
American troops liberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering
role?.
Italians. By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on
the banks of the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting
America: For the first time since the landings at Salerno in
September 1943, the enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France.
3
The fighting in the Italian campaign was as fierce and
heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each adversary was
of such magnitude that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment, on the courage, skill, and stamina of those
who struggled near the water's edge. In this cemetary lies Sgt.
Sylvester Antolak. An Ohio farmboy and the youngest son of
Polish immigrants, 45 years ago this week he lost his life not
far from where we stand -- and won the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
Rank?
Audie Murphy was among those who followed as Sgt. Antolak
charged a machinegun nest near the Cisterna beachhead. Three
times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got back up,
tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the time he
had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered to this
man whom their bullets could not stop.
Side by side under another set of crosses lie two of the
three Kaspervik brothers of Quincy, Illinois. All three served
in the Army Air Corps, all three died in action, these two killed
ten days apart in 1944.
All told nearly 8,000 soldiers rest beneath the cedars of
this
Nettuno cemetary, joined by another 3,000 missing whose names are
etched in the white Carrara marble of the chapel. They come from
every American state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to
Florida. Twelve are women, 109 are buried beneath Stars of
David, 490 are unidentified -- known but to God. And the white
crosses you see before you ring the world -- across the
and Hars of David
4
battlefields of Europe and in the mountains of Asia, the deserts
of north Africa, the jungles of Latin America -- silent testimony
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the Italian campaign
-- and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war.
The answer is here, among the silent graves.
The cost of maintaining that deterrent is brought home to us
all when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressed I was by the many expressions of sympathy I received
from leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent
words of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as
he shared the sorrow of our loss.
As we gather Nay it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images at home
are of a country that is prosperous and secure, a country
5
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
at the half hour. At Gettysburg the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
In the kind of scene that will be repeated in small towns
all across our nation, the American Legion in St. Clairsville,
Ohio -- population 6,000 -- will dedicate a white granite
monument in front of the courthouse to Sgt. Antolak, the Medal of
Honor winner buried here. Two surviving brothers will attend.
One of them, George, served in the South Pacific and was awarded
the Purple Heart.
And as they do every year, the Legion in Quincy, Illinois --
just up the Mississippi from Hannibal -- will sponsor a parade
down Main Street to honor fallen natives like the three Kaspervik
brothers.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I will join Prime Minister
in placing a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of those buried
here at Nettuno.
now not coming
(McNally/Simon)
May 18, 1989
4:00 p.m.
Draft One
(B:NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETARY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
Mr. Prime Minister, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbeque smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American rituals.
Today in Indianapolis the smell of coffee and sweat and kerosene
will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked raceway. Off
the docks of St. Louis the legacy of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
will be remembered with the annual riverboat race.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time this ceremony concludes
the first rays of sunlight will streak across the Potomac River,
flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our Republic,
then reaching down to touch the rows of silent white markers on
the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington Cemetary. Soon the
gathering light will reveal the lone figure of a man in uniform,
2
standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a 24 hour
tradition that dates back more than fifty years.
And soon the sound of taps will rise in the wind all across
America, heard by veterans, young and old, as they gather in
cities and hamlets to salute the fallen, to slowly raise the flag
to half-mast. Some will turn their thoughts here, to this
peaceful hilltop above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45
years ago the U.S. Third Infantry Division -- the most decorated
in the war -- led the bloody advance on Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the San Jacinto on the other side of the world as
she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like most Americans,
the men aboard my ship had eagerly followed news of the Italian
campaign.
During four long months of that year the combatants of World
War II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before
the week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would
be changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th
American troops liberated Rome, the streets lined by cheering
Italians. By midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on
the banks of the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting
America: For the first time since the landings at Salerno in
September 1943, the enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the invasion of France.
3
The fighting in the Italian campaign was as fierce and
heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each adversary was
of such magnitude that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang in that moment, on the courage, skill, and stamina of those
who struggled near the water's edge. In this cemetary lies Sgt.
Sylvester Antolak. An Ohio farmboy and the youngest son of
Polish immigrants, 45 years ago this week he lost his life not
far from where we stand -- and won the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
Audie Murphy was among those who followed as Sgt. Antolak
charged a machinegun nest near the Cisterna beachhead. Three
times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got back up,
tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the time he
had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered to this
man whom their bullets could not stop.
Side by side under another set of crosses lie two of the
three Kaspervik brothers of Quincy, Illinois. All three served
in the Army Air Corps, all three died in action, these two killed
ten days apart in 1944.
All told nearly 8,000 soldiers rest beneath the cedars of
Nettuno cemetary, joined by another 3,000 missing whose names are
etched in the white Carrara marble of the chapel. They come from
every American state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to
Florida. Twelve are women, 109 are buried beneath Stars of
David, 490 are unidentified -- known but to God. And the white
crosses you see before you ring the world -- across the
4
battlefields of Europe and in the mountains of Asia, the deserts
of north Africa, the jungles of Latin America -- silent testimony
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the Italian campaign
-- and millions of other Europeans and Americans -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war.
The answer is here, among the silent graves.
The cost of maintaining that deterrent is brought home to us
all when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressed I was by the many expressions of sympathy I received
from leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent
words of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as
he shared the sorrow of our loss.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images at home
are of a country that is prosperous and secure, a country
5
confident of its place in the world and aware of what that place
will cost.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
at the half hour. At Gettysburg the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
In the kind of scene that will be repeated in small towns
all across our nation, the American Legion in St. Clairsville,
Ohio -- population 6,000 -- will dedicate a white granite
monument in front of the courthouse to Sgt. Antolak, the Medal of
Honor winner buried here. Two surviving brothers will attend.
One of them, George, served in the South Pacific and was awarded
the Purple Heart.
And as they do every year, the Legion in Quincy, Illinois --
just up the Mississippi from Hannibal -- will sponsor a parade
down Main Street to honor fallen natives like the three Kaspervik
brothers.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
And with that prayer, I will join Prime Minister
in placing a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of those buried
here at Nettuno.
Chriss --
Just to offer another view
(Obviously), I'm confident
that framing the speech with
"As we gather, it is dawn in America. "
works.
It is not symbolic -- it
is literal -- as they stand there
at 10:30 in Italy, it is dawn in
the eastern United States -- the
sun is about to come up -- marking
a holiday weekend in which we
honor our war dead, and in which
the days of summer begin. Most of
the speech is about what will be
happening in the United States
after the sun comes up and Americans
start their day.
Thanks
-- E.McN.
5/25 11 am
TO: CHRISS
FR: BOB
Per our discussion:
move the phrase "bresh
in mind" in graf2, P.4
consider changing
"It is dawn in America"
on p.6
consider removing
USS 10WA puragraph
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
----
DATE: 5/25/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: TRIP TO EUROPE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
>
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
ROGERS
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
The attached remarks have been forwarded to the President:
1. Andrews Departure Statement
6. Arrival -- Bonn
2. Arrival -- Rome
7. Lunch with Queen Elizabeth II
3. Toast with Prime Minister DeMita
4. Memorial Day Speech -- Nettuno, Italy
5. Arrival -- Brussels
RESPONSE:
James W, Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 23, 1989
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
w
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
EDWARD E. McNALLY our
SUBJECT:
MEMORIAL DAY SPEECH AT THE AMERICAN CEMETERY,
NETTUNO, ITALY
I.
SUMMARY
Attached for your consideration and review are draft remarks
for your Memorial Day address, to be given on Memorial Day Sunday
at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno,
Italy.
II. DISCUSSION
At 10:00 a.m. (Italy time) on Sunday, May 28, 1989, you are
scheduled to travel to the American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy,
to lay a Memorial Day wreath -- commemorating all our veterans
who have fallen in battle.
In part because the military campaign at nearby Anzio
remains controversial, the suggested remarks are not particularly
directed at the Italians, NATO, or even the armed services.
Rather, the remarks were drafted as a Presidential Memorial Day
message, directed at the heartland audience back home where
families will be preparing to celebrate an American tradition.
Located just east of Anzio, about an hour's drive from Rome,
the American Cemetery at Nettuno is one of fourteen sites in
foreign countries that were selected after World War II as
permanent American cemeteries. A grassy, tree-lined field of
white crosses, the cemetery is somewhat reminiscent of Arlington
National Cemetery. Nearly all of the almost 8,000 soldiers
buried there are American, and nearly all fought in the 1943-44
liberation of Italy, from the invasion of Sicily to the fall of
Rome. A small number also came from Canada, England, Scotland,
Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Spain.
(McNally/Simon)
May 23, 1989
5:00 p.m.
Draft Four
(B:NETTUNO)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
AMERICAN CEMETERY
NETTUNO, ITALY
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1989
10:00 A.M.
We gather today to mark Memorial Day in America, to honor
the thousands of young men and women, buried here and elsewhere,
who put themselves in harm's way so that others might live in
freedom.
As we gather, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day Weekend.
The first days of summer. Soon screen doors will slam, parks
will sound with the crack of the bat, children's voices will rise
in the summer breeze pungent with the scent of barbecue smoke.
And the rites of summer are marked by American traditions.
As morning comes to Indianapolis the smells of coffee and
gasoline will mingle in the heat rising off the sun-baked
raceway. Further west, there'll be another race, as the blast of
a ship's whistle sends the riverboats Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
steaming down the Mississippi off the docks of St. Louis.
Memorial Day Weekend. By the time today's ceremony
concludes the first rays of sunlight will streak across the
Potomac, flashing first atop the monument to the founder of our
Republic, then reaching down to touch the silent rows of white
markers on the green Virginia hillside that is Arlington
2
Cemetery. Soon the gathering light will reveal a lone figure --
a man in uniform -- standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldiers, a round the clock vigil unbroken in more than fifty
years. Another moment and the dawn will flood the park that lays
beneath the gaze of Lincoln, embracing the candles that flicker
each night along the walls of the Vietnam Memorial.
And soon the plaintive sound of taps will rise in the wind
in cities and hamlets all across America, heard by veterans of
four wars, as they gather to salute the fallen. In town after
town the ritual at sunrise will be the same, as first the flag is
raised, then slowly lowered to half-mast.
The thoughts of some will turn eastward toward the sun --
across the ocean and across four decades -- to this grassy plain
above the shores of the Mediterranean, where 45 years ago the
U.S. Third Infantry Division -- among the most decorated in World
War II -- led the bloody advance toward the liberation of Rome.
On that Memorial Day Weekend -- 1944 -- I was not yet 20,
standing aboard the U.S.S. San Jacinto on the other side of the
world as she cruised from Wake Island toward Saipan. Like
Americans everywhere, the men aboard our ship had eagerly
followed news of the Italian campaign.
During four long months of 1944, the combatants of World War
II were locked near Nettuno in a deadly embrace. But before the
week was out, the face of the world's greatest conflict would be
changed, and the fate of the enemy sealed. On June 4th, American
troops entered Rome, the streets lined by cheering Italians. By
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midnight General Mark Clark's Fifth Army stood on the banks of
the Tiber, and the word went out to a waiting America: For the
first time since the landings at Salerno in September 1943, the
enemy was in full retreat.
It was the beginning of the end. And two days later a new
front opened with D-Day, the Normandy landing.
The fight to liberate Italy from the tyranny of fascism was
as fierce and heroic as any seen in the war. The danger to each
adversary was such that the outcome of the war itself seemed to
hang at that moment on the valor and the vigor of each man who
struggled near the water's edge.
One such soldier was Sgt. Sylvester Antolak, an Ohio
farmboy and the youngest son of Polish immigrants. On a drizzly
morning forty-five years ago this week, he led Staff Sgt. Audie
Murphy and others in a bold charge through the rain and the ruin
near Cisterna -- one man against a machinegun nest that blocked
the road to Rome.
Three times he was cut down by fire. Three times he got
back up, tucking his gun under his shattered right arm. By the
time he had disabled the gunners, ten enemy soldiers surrendered
to this man whom their bullets could not stop.
Sgt. Antolak fell near Cisterna that same day. He rests
here beneath the cedars of Nettuno with nearly 8,000 soldiers,
his grave one of two marked with the Congressional Medal of
Honor. Joined by the names of another 3,000 missing etched in
the white marble of the chapel, they come from every American
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state, from Texas to Maine, Alaska to Florida. And these white
crosses and Stars of David ring the world -- across the
battlefields of Europe and the jungles of Asia, the deserts of
north Africa, the hillsides of our homeland -- in silent tribute
to America's battles for freedom in this century.
It was with the memory of the sacrifices of the American,
British and French soldiers who fell during the campaign to
liberate Italy -- and the sacrifices of millions of other
Europeans and Americans in the cause of freedom -- fresh in mind
that NATO was created after the war.
As I reflect on this scene, and anticipate the dynamic and
forward-looking Europe of the 1990's, I think of generations of
young people on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown up in
peace and prosperity. With no experience of the horror and
destruction of war, it may be difficult for them to understand
why we need to keep a strong military deterrent to prevent war,
and to preserve freedom and democracy. The answer is here, among
the quiet of the graves.
The cost of maintaining freedom is brought home to us all
when tragedy strikes -- as it did last month on the USS Iowa.
The loss of those fine sailors -- and the tears of their families
and loved ones -- reminded us all of the risk and sacrifice in
human terms that security sometimes demands. Let me add how
impressive were the many expressions of sympathy I received from
leaders around the world, and particularly by the eloquent words
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of Italy's distinguished President, Francesco Cossiga, as he
shared the sorrow of our loss.
Sgt. Antolak also understood the cost of freedom. Today in
his hometown of St. Clairesville, Ohio -- population 6,000 -- the
townspeople will gather by the local courthouse to dedicate a
white granite memorial to the county's Medal of Honor winners.
George and Stanley Antolak will be there -- to remember their
brother -- their hero, and ours.
It is the kind of scene that will be repeated today and
tomorrow in parks and churchyards all across America.
A bit north of Mark Twain's Hannibal -- just up the
Mississippi from that steamboat race I mentioned -- lies the town
of Quincy, Illinois. When World War II came, Quincy offered up
her sons in service. Three brothers -- Donald, Preston, and
William Kaspervik -- joined the Army Air Corps. Their story is a
common one -- and yet uncommon in the way of all those who
answered the call to serve.
The first brother, Donald, was killed when two bombers
collided on maneuvers in New Mexico, and their mother grieved.
Preston, the second brother, died just south of here in Sicily,
shortly after Patton's successful invasion. And their mother was
overcome once again.
Ten days later, the third brother, William went down during
a dangerous bombing mission over the mountains of central Italy.
On the day of his death, his mother received a letter from him,
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urging her not to worry. When the third telegram came, his
mother could not bring herself to answer the door.
William and Preston Kaspervik are buried here side by side
-- in soil they helped to free. Brothers in life, brothers in
arms, brothers in eternity.
Their mother died 20 years ago. But back home in Quincy,
the extraordinary sacrifice of this ordinary American family is
still remembered. And today, as they do every year, the VFW and
the American Legion will honor Quincy's fallen natives with a
hometown parade down Main Street, high above the banks of the
Mississippi.
As we gather today, it is dawn in America. Memorial Day
Weekend. And as the sun rises and the summer begins, the images
both here and at home are of countries that are prosperous and
secure, countries confident of their place in the world and aware
of the responsibility that comes with that place.
Soon that lone soldier at Arlington will resume his paces --
21 steps in each direction, the changing of the guard precisely
on the half hour. At Gettysburg, the schoolchildren will scatter
flowers on other unknown graves, blue and gray side by side,
Americans.
On Memorial Day, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom
and peace and for the generations of Americans who have won them
for us. We also pray for the same strength and moral resolve
demonstrated by these veterans, as well as for the true and
lasting peace found in a world where liberty and justice prevail.
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And with that prayer, I ask that you join in your own silent
prayers as we place a wreath to commemorate the sacrifice of
those buried here at Nettuno -- and the sacrifice of all men and
women who have given their lives for freedom.
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