Deputy Secretary John Wessels' remarks to VFW in Paris during Annual Gala
Ambassador Nowakowski, VFW Commanders Paolucci and Howard, American Legion Paris Post 1 Commander Canady, Colonels Kennedy and Steiner, thank you to our Girl Scouts here tonight and good evening VFW members, honored guests and friends.
On behalf of Secretary Max Cleland and American Ambassador Jane Hartley, my wife Mary and I are honored to be with you all here tonight.
Before I talk about the American Battle Monuments Commission though, I’d also like to thank, personally, our French colleagues and hosts:
Chers amis, mon épouse Mary et moi-même sommes très heureux et reconnaissants d’être parmi vous ce soir, dans ce lieu magnifique et chargé d’histoire. Depuis notre arrivée en France il y a deux ans, nous avons été accueillis comme des amis proches venus de l’autre côté de l’Atlantique, et nous sommes tombés sous le charme de la France, de sa culture, de sa langue et de ses habitants. Et en fait, c’est un nouveau réveil, car depuis deux cent cinquante ans, la France peut compter sur l’amitié et le soutien de ses cousins américains. De Lafayette, qui oeuvra pour la paix et la liberté, à nos jours, nous avons toujours été partenaires, dans les bons et les mauvais moments. Aujourd’hui nous sommes à nouveau mis à l’épreuve à travers la guerre et le terrorisme, mais nous restons côte à côte dans l’adversité. Aujourd’hui, plus que jamais, les liens indéfectibles de l’unité franco- américaine sont un exemple pour le reste du monde occidental. Ma famille et moi vous remercions pour tout ce que vous avez déjà fait, pour tout ce que vous faites aujourd’hui et pour tout ce que nous continuerons de faire ensemble pour soutenir et défendre nos deux grands pays et nos peuples, pour la cause d’une paix permanente et durable…
Good evening everyone. As Deputy Secretary for Overseas Operations, I am privileged to sit at the same desk once occupied by General John Blackjack Pershing, General of American Armies during World War I and the first overseas leader for this organization. Since General Pershing’s time, the mission of the American Battle Monuments Commission has expanded, and now includes 25 national military cemeteries dedicated to World Wars I and II, and 26 national memorials in 16 countries across Europe, North Africa, Central America and the Pacific.
During our 93 year history, ABMC has maintained pristine, sacred and peaceful cemeteries; has greeted next of kin; and has overseen memorial events marking first, the “Great War”, and then World War II. This has been our mandate and we have carried it out--delivering green grass and white crosses and some of the most beautiful commemorative places on earth. And for most of our 93 years that has been enough….
Referring to our lost heroes from WWI, General Pershing declared that “Time shall not diminish the glory of their Deeds." But as more and more time passes between the events of these wars and today, this statement, I believe, does not ring as true as one would hope. In fact, time CAN diminish memories that are not shared, and family stories that pass with their originator…
And today, with the guns of Verdun silent for nearly 100 years, and the ghosts of Normandy and Point du Hoc and the Ardennes almost 73 years old, a critical question for us to ask is: Who will care for the memories of these soldiers when appreciation for their courage begins to fade and the relevancy to current events dims?
Because the sad truth is, time is the great equalizer, and we must purposefully look to the future and for ways to remain relevant: relevant to generations of young people who know little of WWII much less WWI, relevant to how our American cemeteries fit into communities that have grown up around us, and relevant to how we can most effectively share these priceless and timeless stories of courage, competence, and sacrifice made here overseas and at home…
Allow me to illustrate:
This is a Blue Service Star banner. If you were the mother or father of a young soldier or nurse serving in WWI or WWII, you would have hung a banner like this featuring the distinctive blue star from your living room window. And if you had multiple children in the service, you would have displayed one star for each.
Now consider that when a young soldier or nurse was killed or lost in action: Does anyone remember seeing this in the movie “Saving Private Ryan?” You see the mother coming to the door to greet a visitor but collapses on the porch when she understands the nature of that visit is to deliver the worst possible news a mother could ever receive – the death of a son. And so, you see the blue star transformed into:
A gold star represents the ultimate sacrifice of an American in uniform who fell during war time. This is also the genesis of the term “Gold star” mothers – who traveled across the Atlantic to Europe for decades following WWI to visit their sons where they fell-- to feel some sense of connection and peace.
And the main role of ABMC for its first 93 years has been to manage these places that offer that opportunity for peace and sanctity…
But today, that is not enough…. My mission, my raison d’etre, is to make sure that every one of those mother’s sons and father’s daughters is not only remembered, but their stories known and told to new generations of visitors who may know little or nothing of these wars, but who can still be inspired, moved to reverence, and compelled to think a while on the true cost of Service, - a cost that most of you as Veterans have known and paid…
Immediately following his experiences in WWI, Archibald Macleish wrote a poem entitled: “Young dead soldiers” in which he wrote from the perspective of a fallen soldier: “We gave you our deaths, Give
them their Meaning…”
And THAT is the business we are in today, more than ever – demonstrating respect, honor and fidelity by telling their stories…
Today, ABMC is becoming more relevant and examples of this are multiplying rapidly... In the Netherlands American Cemetery, 100% of the 8,301 graves have been “adopted” by local families from Margraten and the annual “Liberation” concert every September draws more than three thousand…
In addition, our Overseas Operations Office is already making progress as we fully embrace new technology and tools for telling these stories on our website, on Facebook, on Instagram, and on newly created Apps. We're also writing books and shooting interpretative films.
Furthermore, ABMC has expanded visitor services and continues to do so. For the first 85 years of our history as an Agency, we had no visitor service or outreach capacity. And then 8 years ago, prompted by Congress, we built the very popular Normandy Visitor Center – which now greets more than 1.5 million visitors a year. And over the past two and a half years, we’ve dedicated new visitor facilities at Sicily-Rome and Cambridge American Cemeteries, as well as a small contact station and interpretative pavilion at Point du Hoc.
Looking to the immediate future, in the next 18 months and in time to commemorate the US entry into WWI, we will dedicate visitor centers at Flanders Field in Belgium, at Meuse Argonne, and the Chateau Thierry monument here in France. And, within the next 3 years and for the first time in our history, we will build a visitor center outside of Western Europe at the Manila American cemetery. There we will focus on sharing the stories of the war in the pacific and the 17,000 buried there, along with the 36,000 names on the wall of the missing.
So, while it is with sadness that we understand that time is the enemy of memories, it is with hope and determination that we at the ABMC continue to work to keep these memories alive – as we always have by opening our cemeteries and monuments to all visitors, and by creating and stewarding new opportunities for outreach . Our new facilities and focus on ‘telling the story’ make our sites more inviting and informative for young and old visitors alike.
I am grateful to be serving in this mission and at this time in our shared history. In closing, I have my own story to share, one degree of separation if you will.
During the closing days of WWII, as the Germans fell back again and again and came closer to facing final defeat, a young sergeant from the US Army’s 103rd Infantry Division wore this specific shoulder patch.
The 103rd were called the Cactus Division and they fought with distinction in the Vosges, the
Battle of the Bulge, the Rhineland, and Innsbruck. And one cold December night this young sergeant
from the south side of Chicago wearing this patch, was caught in a firefight leading his platoon in
the Ardennes. He was hit three times by a German machine gun. One bullet pierced his abdomen and
two caught him in his right hip. And all that cold night he lay in no-mans land. His buddies tried
to get to him but were turned
back time and again. After several hours when they finally could reach their
friend, they expected the worst, but instead found one tough Irishman still holding onto life. The
winter snow had slowed his bleeding and the bullets, while devastating, had narrowly missed major
arteries which would have spelled certain death…
This young sergeant was my Uncle John, and later that spring of 1944 he was sent back to a VA
hospital in Chicago where he would recover slowly--though never fully-- from his wounds. At that
hospital he met and courted a young VA nurse--my Aunt Edna May--and married her shortly after his
release. Together, they raised 8 children.
And so Today, I keep this patch – my Uncle John’s patch – on my desk – General Pershing’s desk – as
a daily reminder of the personal sacrifice made by millions like him and like you, to whom we owe
our eternal gratitude, and also, of course, to the many who never made it home to their families.
Thank you for serving your country. Thank you for supporting the ABMC and ALL of our veterans – not
only those who fought with the U.S. but all those who took up arms when called by their countries
to fight for freedom, and thank you for inviting me here tonight to be with you.