California Veterans Memorial Dedication (1998 Video)

Pete Wilson: Self

Quotes 

• Pete Wilson : Thank you, Secretary Bennett. Today we dedicate this memorial, to honor Californians who have preserved California's - and America's - liberty for a century and a half. Too few of us fully appreciate what a rare plant freedom is in the history of the world... how precious is our republican form of government... because our country and our state have been free for so long, and the ideal of freedom is now ascendant throughout most of the world. But it wasn't always so. Liberty has always had determined, and sometimes powerful, enemies. It requires constant sacrifice to maintain. Freedom isn't free. It has been - and will continue to be - purchased through the blood and sacrifice of each new generation. This granite obelisk honors those who've made the sacrifice... who've manned the ramparts with vigilance... and in many cases gave what Lincoln called "the last full measure of their devotion." Some five million Californians have worn their country's uniform since California became a state, in 1850. They are all recognized here - those baptized under hostile fire... as well as every soldier, sailor, and aviator who kept tyranny at bay by keeping America's defenses at the ready. They have a long and glorious history of service to their nation. 17,000 Californians volunteered for the service in the Union Army during the Civil War, including William Tecumseh Sherman, Henry Wager Halleck, John C. Fremont, and "Fighting Joe" Hooker. California soldiers guarded the vast Western plain - from St. Louis to Sacramento, from the Canadian border to the Rio Grande - against Confederate invasion, and kept the land route to the West open. And a few California units saw combat in the East - like the 1st California Regiment, which withstood the brunt of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. That same regiment traveled across the Pacific to the Philippines in 1989, where their dedication and fighting spirit was so pronounced, soldiers from other units would say of them, "There's regulars, there's volunteers - and then there's the 1st California." In July of 1917, the California National Guard was called to active duty in the United States Army and organized as the 40th Division - the "Sunshine" Division. The 40th would be called up three times in 33 years. The men of the 40th fought in the dank, miserable trenches that rent the bucolic fields of France and Flanders. Less than three decades later, their sons accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in the Southern Philippines. And they spent the bitter Korean winter of 1952-53 defending places called Heartbreak Ridge and the Punchbowl. As our great state has grown so have the numbers of our sons and daughters who have served. Nearly a million Californians served in Vietnam. And some 50,000 traveled to the Persian Gulf in the early years of this decade, to participate in Operation Desert Storm. These are the stories of just some of the five million... some of the Californians who followed the path of duty, often to remote lands, often never to return. Some of their names are etched in stone a few hundred yards from here. Many of them live among us, in every city and town across our great state. And many of them are manning the ramparts now, as we speak... in Bosnia, in the Persian Gulf, in Korea, in Europe, on the high seas, and here at home. For answering the call of service to their country, our veterans deserve more than to have their names etched in granite. They must not be forgotten. Their service, their sacrifice, their courage... must be etched in American memory... and remembered with honor and deepest gratitude... as the price they paid to pass on to us the priceless legacy of freedom and glory that is America. Thank you. God bless those whom this memorial celebrates and honors. And God bless America.