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President
Clinton & Congressman Rangle
WWII African American Awards
September
16, 1994
Rayburn Office Bldg.; Washington, DC.
WWII Commemoration
Committee, The Pentagon
CONGRESSMAN RANGLE: My brothers
and sisters, the mere fact that the President of the United States during the time that he is going through an international
crisis would tear himself away from that to be here with us is an indication of the deep-seated respect and the support that
he has for Americans, for veterans, and especially African-American veterans.
(Applause)
This President knows that
whenever he asks for us to be at any time, at any place, that it's been our community, no matter what injustices we suffered,
that we've always been there first, and we're willing to stay there the longest.
(Applause)
Mr. President, we thank
you for not just supporting a veteran, a century of veterans' affairs, but in appointing a hero that is the Secretary for
all veterans and all of our affairs.
(Applause)
No President in recent history has
demonstrated a need for all Americans to be able to use their full resources in order for this great republic of ours to become
the nation that it can be. No President recognizes more
the sacrifices that people have to make as not only they go to harm's way defending this great republic, but indeed, as they
see their children and their children's children doing what has to be done to protect us. This President has done all
that he can to make certain that those that have served will never be forgotten, and his courageous appointment of Secretary
Brown is a living indication of the depth of his sincerity as we move forward.
(Applause)
Mr. President, we all
applaud the courageous statement and action
that you have taken in addressing the nation
last night. Whether we invade or not invade is a decision for the Commander-in-Chief of this country.
(Applause)
One thing that you've
made clear. When you think about democracy, when you think about the restorations of President, you clearly make certain
that color is not the issue, but the preservation of democracy in this hemisphere and in the world.
(Applause)
On behalf of all the veterans
that are here to celebrate this Congressional Black Caucus, and all that could not be here because they stayed where they
fought, for those that wanted to be here but cannot economically or physically be here, and on behalf of those that made it
and put this organization together, on behalf of our members of the Congressional Black Caucus, we honor you and we're so
glad that you're able to be with us to present the awards to our heroes, the Caucus' heroes, and the nation's heroes.
The President of
the United States.
(Applause)
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Thank you
very much, Congressman Rangle, Secretary Brown, Chairman [EnfumeySP?], other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and
to all of the veterans of our armed forces who are here, to your family members and friends, my fellow Americans. I
am proud to be here to honor the African-American veterans of World War II.
This is a distinguished
generation in a history of African-American military service, but you belong to a legacy older than the Declaration of Independence
-- one that includes the legendary service of the Massachusetts 54th in our Civil War; the Buffalo Soldiers in the West; the
92nd Division in World War I. Congressman Rangle, I'm sure most of you know, is a decorated veteran of the Korean War,
and he had a son who served in the United States Marine Corps. I want to recognize his service and that of the other
veterans in the Congressional Black Caucus -- Congressmen Blackwell, Bishop, Clay, Conyers, Dellums, Dixon, Jefferson, Rush,
Stoce, Scott, and Towns.
I also want to acknowledge our Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown. I'm grateful to have him in my Cabinet.
Not only because he is the first African-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs, but because he is a genuine hero of our military
service and someone, as Congressman Rangle said, who has been a Secretary of Veterans Affairs and a Secretary for America's
Veterans. I was telling him on the way over here, I had just gotten another one of his letters reminding me that there
was something else I should have done that I had not yet done for the veterans of this country.
(Applause)
I told him when we had
our little interview before I became President, that I expected him not only to be loyal to me, but loyal to you; and that
as long as he were honest and straight forward with me, he could fulfill both loyalties. I can honestly say he's doing
his best.
(Applause)
I want to note that today
is also POW/MIA recognition day.
(Applause)
Today we recognize those
Americans who were held prisoner before, or those who remain unaccounted for -- the missing who have never received their
proper welcome home. They are not forgotten. The United States stands firmly resolved to help loved ones find
the answers they deserve, and even today we are working hard and investing a significant amount of money in that endeavor
in Southeast Asia.
For decades, African-American
veterans were missing in our nation's memories of World War II. For too long, you were soldiers in the shadows -- forgotten
heroes. Today it should be clear to all of you, you are forgotten no more.
(Applause)
I'm very proud of your
service to our country. You protected and expanded the freedoms that all the rest of us enjoy today. Our nation's
debt to you can never be fully repaid, but we can certainly honor your service as we do today.
Americans endured much
during World War II -- the terrible loss of lives, the separation of families and loved ones, the interruptions of life on
the home front. All our people felt some of that, but no group of Americans endured what African-Americans endured in
uniform. You had to win the right to fight the enemy we faced in common; you endured the indignities of double standards
for black troops -- the put-downs, the segregated units and bases, some of which gave you less freedom to move than German
prisoners of war. You defended America with no guarantees that your own freedom would be defended in return.
I'm just reading the new
book by (inaudible) Kerns Goodwin about World War II, and the President and Mrs. Roosevelt, the war on the homefront, the
war abroad. She was constantly urging her husband to try to do something about the double standard accorded African-American
people in the military. Among other things, it was that people who wanted to enlist in the Navy ought to be able to
do something besides work in the Mess.
(Applause)
We've come a long way
since then, largely because of you and many tens of thousands like you who have proved the false stereotypes, who showed that
American troops were, are, and always will be the best trained, the best prepared fighting force in history, regardless of
the color of their skin.
(Applause)
In fact, units comprised
entirely or mostly of African-Americans performed remarkably. Groups honored today such as the famed Tuskegee Airmen..
(Applause)
When I was in Europe recently
to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the liberation of Italy and Rome and V-Day, I was escorted on part of my journey by a
Tuskegee Airman from my home state who told me what is now in my notes here.
(Laughter)
The Tuskegee Airmen flew
1578 combat missions, and they were the only fighter group in the Mediterranean -- black or white -- never to lose a single,
solitary bomber...
(Applause)
The Red Ball Express.
They landed at Normandy in the wake of D-Day and rushed materials to supply the rapid allied events. The U.S. Army's
761st Tank Battalion, the first black armored unit to see combat in World War II...
(Applause)
They fought readily at the Battle of the Bulge and did so while in combat for 183 days in a row.
(Applause)
In Europe, North Africa,
the Pacific, or stateside, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Coast Guard, more than a million African-American
men and women helped to win this century's greatest fight for freedom. And helping to show the world what America was
against, you helped to show America what America is for. You helped to liberate all of us from segregation.
The civil rights marches
were already underway every time you marched in a uniform. Today at the end of the Cold War, we should do everything
we can to pay back the debt we owe, to move forward as a nation, as you helped America move forward after World War II.
Most of you were born
in the years after World War I, a time when America came home from victory and retreated from the world. A time in which
insecurity arose, as Hitler's hate spread overseas, the Red scare and the Ku Klux Klan grew up here at home. After World
War II, we avoided a lot of those mistakes and we turned our old adversaries into new allies. We brought prosperity
into our own economy, even as we built a global economy. We educated our people for new work, and propelled the movement
for civil rights that lifted millions of Americans into equal dignity and gave all Americans at least some chance to join
the middle class.
Now we have to do what
your generation did for us -- to guide new democracies into an era or security and prosperity, to renew our own economy, to
give hope to our communities, to give every individual the tools they need to assume personal responsibility for themselves
and their families, to prepare our young people for life in the 21st Century. And perhaps, though most difficult of
all, we have got to find a way to work together in this country, to make strength out of our diversity. To prove that
in a global economy where the earth is smaller and smaller, the fact that we are a nation of many races and faiths, many backgrounds,
is a great source of strength if we will tap it with open minds and open hearts.
(Applause)
Here in the government,
the President and the Congress, we have some power to bring more jobs and lower the deficit. We have the power to pass
laws that will help people to combat crime and will help to open trading opportunities all around the world. We have
the power to pass laws that will give communities the tools they need to rebuild, and give families the breaks they need to
succeed at work and at home like the Family Leave Act. But one thing I've learned here now in nearly two years as President,
no matter how much progress we make in passing of the laws, what goes on in the hearts of our country is still the most important
thing.
There is still too much in our country that divides us. Too many that see the glass as half empty instead of
half full. We can win the battles before us. There is no problem we face today that America cannot overcome, but
we have to have the spirit and the character and the sheer endurance and faith that so many of you demonstrated by the dignity
and courage of your service in the 2nd World War.
(Applause)
Before I turn the microphone
over to the congressman, Senator Bishop, from Georgia, who will read the awards as Secretary Brown and I congratulate the
honorees, let me say just a word about Haiti since Congressman Rangle was kind enough to mention it.
As all of you know now,
it is a place where terrible atrocities have occurred. After a democratic leader was thrown out, dictators took over,
people were murdered, slashed, raped, anything to intimidate them into submission. It is a place where democracy has
been taken away -- the only place in our entire hemisphere where an elected government was supplanted with a dictatorship.
Because of the oppression and difficulties, it is a place where we have had many immigrants streaming out of, looking for
freedom and relief, and unless we act, there will be more.
I hope you also know that
we have bent over backwards now for three years to avoid this confrontation. We have sought a peaceful solution repeatedly.
Last year we made an agreement here in the United States. The dictator, General Cedras, came here and signed an
agreement in which he promised to leave power in return for a spirit of reconciliation and humanity, putting the country back
together. When the day came to keep the deal, he broke it, turned the United Nations away. Now they're even refusing
to talk to representatives of the United Nations.
Well, here in our neighborhood,
that level of human rights abuse, the loss of democracy through robbery, the continued threat of the instability of immigration,
and breaking your word to the United States, the United Nations and all your neighbors, those things are things which cannot
stand.
I also want to say as
all of you know, our military is as good as it's ever been -- perhaps better than it's ever been. It's more united,
more flexible, more modern, and yet more skilled in the old fashioned virtues and abilities, perhaps than ever before.
Our leaders have prepared well for this moment, while hoping that it would not be necessary. But as all of you know
as well as any Americans, there is no such thing as a risk-free journey in this area. We have done everything we can
to be deliberate and fair. Even at this hour, just a few minutes ago, we had all the members of our coalition, including
the Prime Minsters of several Caribbean countries, into the White House. President Aristide made a speech in which he
said, "No violence -- reconciliation." Let's don't do this. Let's don't take retribution on each other any more.
This is a right cause
for a country that is near our own neighborhood, where the mission is plain and limited and achievable. I just want
to say to all of you that I honor your contributions, and I know you honor the contributions of all those young men and women
in uniform who now are able to achieve their God-given abilities in the service of their country without regard to their race,
because of what you did.
Thank you.
(Applause)
CONGRESSMAN
RANGLE: Today we have the symbol, the opportunity, the privilege, the honor to honor those who received their flowers
yet too late. Yet we honor them, our forgotten heroes and heroines. They are in various organizations that we
honor here today which consists of many members -- some on earth, some above the earth and some beneath it. They will
be represented by individuals whose names I will call and who will come forward.
For the 366th Infantry Regiment, [Dinette
Powers].
The World War II Black Navy Veterans of the
Great Lakes, Mr. Robert [Hoffman].
The Montford Point Marines Association, Jerome Milburn.
- The 761st Tank Battalion and the Allied Veterans Assoc., Joseph Cayhall, Jr.
- The USS Mason Association, James [Waylan].
- 758th and 64th Honor Regiment Association, Eugene Richardson.
- The Black Womens Army Auxiliary Corps & Womens Army Corps, Gladys Carter.
(END)
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