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Remembering Our Fallen Heroes; Visiting Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery; Live Remarks at Arlington by Gen. Martin Dempsey, Defense Secretary Hagel
Aired May 27, 2013 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
And on this Memorial Day, we begin at the place that symbolizes Memorial Day, Arlington National Cemetery. The president and first lady are there to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, honoring all those in uniform who have given their lives serving this country.
Our Dan Lothian is live with us from the White House as the president is busy and, so to speak, on the road.
Dan, I just wanted to ask you a little bit as we get ready to listen to the president and his address today on this Memorial Day at the tomb, it's a busy time for him. He has a lot going on on his agenda, a number of different scandals that are being characterized, thus.
But at the same time, he does take this time on this day to do this, and it is a busy day for him as well, isn't it?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It really is a busy day for the president, and you're right.
The president thinks that these are special moments to honor those who have given so much for this country, people who the president himself pointed out in his weekly address don't ask for attention.
They're out of the spotlight, yet they sacrifice so much, and then many of them end up giving their lives. And so the president and the first lady will be honoring them today, laying that wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The president will also be delivering some remarks, no doubt, talking about how these heroes have acted when called upon. But even beyond today, Memorial Day and what this symbolizes, the president, as you pointed out does have all these other things on his plate.
As you know, he's trying to get away from the scandals we have seen over the last couple of weeks, and he's trying to focus on his agenda. A couple of things come to mind, first of all, immigration reform.
This is something that the president talked about during his 2008 campaign. He was not able to get comprehensive reform during his first term. He's really pushing for that in this term, and we know that the Senate floor -- it's headed to the Senate floor after winning some approval in the committee, and so it's unclear exactly where this will end up.
But it's something the president promised he wants to deliver in his second term.
In addition to that, there's the Guantanamo Bay facility. The president, again, another promise that he made back in 2008 and early in his 2009 presidency, that he wanted to close it, but there have been a lot of challenges in closing it down.
The president believes that the longer you keep it open, that it will create more enemies oversea, that it will only be more expense for a country trying to cut wherever it can.
And so, you know, these are some challenges that the president really is dealing with here as he moves beyond some of the scandals of the last couple of weeks.
BANFIELD: And, Dan, the president is being escorted in as we speak. You can see the Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, behind him and the first lady.
I want to listen in to some of the ceremony as it proceeds live.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... arms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Present.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... arms.
(END LIVE FEED)
BANFIELD: Every May 30th since 1868, this country has set aside a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers and, every minute since 1948, the place the president is just leaving now, the Tomb of the Unknowns has been guarded every single minute by the sentinels of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, better known as the Old Guard.
As the president makes his way to the amphitheater, he will be followed not only with the first lady, but by the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, and also the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
They will be making their remarks shortly, and we will be back with more of our special Memorial Day coverage, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: There are hundreds of thousands of graves in Arlington National Cemetery, and many families today are visiting a place called Section 60. Section 60 is where the service members who were killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.
The headstones there are already covered with mementos like this one where a child has left very sweet Post-It notes saying, I love you, and, Good job.
Our Barbara Starr snapped these photographs for us, and she's live in Section 60 this morning.
Barbara, I heard you reporting earlier on the morning show about the occasional good friend of a fallen comrade who comes and leaves a nice, frosty cold beer.
I was wanting to get a few more of your observations as you're there this morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Ashleigh.
Nearly 800, a thousand service members who have fallen on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, as you say, are buried here. This is the place where names like Fallujah, Ramadi, Kandahar, Jalalabad are so meaningful.
Families come here every day of the year, but especially on Memorial Day, leaving those mementoes, and what becomes so gut-wrenching, so touching is when you see the young troops coming back from the war who are here on their day off to visit their fallen friends.
And we talked to a couple of those young soldiers just a short time ago. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPECIALIST TRENTON BLANCHARD, U.S. ARMY: We were both deployed with him. And I brought him back all the way from our mission in Afghanistan until we buried him here. And then I flew back over with the group and finished the rest of the deployment.
STARR: So you brought Michael home?
BLANCHARD: I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Serving and losing a brother-in-arms and getting to be here on Memorial Day, it's -- I don't know. There is no way to describe it. It's the only place I'd want to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: We talked to Trenton Blanchard and John Campbell, both young soldiers from the 82nd just a few moments ago, found them sitting at the grave of their friend, Michael Metcalf.
Trenton brought Michael all the way home here to be buried in Arlington about a year ago when he fell on the battle in Afghanistan, and that's what you see here all day long and what you, in fact, see every day.
And, of course, Arlington, not just Iraq and Afghanistan, but if you look back up into those hills, you will find those who served in Vietnam, Korea, World War II, World War I, and, indeed, Ashleigh, all the way back to the Civil War.
This is a place truly where the nation's history is written.
Ashleigh?
BANFIELD: You know, Barbara, I just noticed in that brief flash of Michael's headstone, that was a birth date of I think 1989. Am I mistaken? It always strikes me how young so many of these fallen heroes. Yes, there you are, 1989. That's when he was born, May 15th. Are you seeing a lot of that, just those very late birth dates?
STARR: Well, this is -- this is those who serve on the front lines, some of the nation's youngest. We have seen it now for a decade plus, and I think there is a lot of hope amongst many of these young people that they may be not having to do a lot of additional tours in the war zone. Of course, Afghanistan, technically winding down, but for the families who come here, of course, every day is Memorial Day. Every day they ember their loved ones as we do here.
BANFIELD: So true.
STARR: ...at CNN.
BANFIELD: And please do give our thoughts to those families and friends that you are encountering there in Section 60 today. Barbara Starr, reporting live for us. Thank you on this Memorial Day.
You know, we've got volunteers across the country who've been spending the last 27 days, leading up to today, honoring the fallen men and women of our military by carrying the flag all the way from New York to Texas. We're going to tell you their stories in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: As we look at the wreath the president just laid at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, a few things you may or may not know about that actual tomb. There is actually a burial that happened there. It is literally the remains of an unknown soldier from World War I. And that burial was approved back in 1921, and the person who's buried there is supposed to symbolize all of those who are missing, all of those who are unknown service members, who gave up their lives, gave up their identities as well. Many members of the CIA who have fallen and have not been acknowledged due to security risks, that tomb is to represent all of those. There are also a couple other crypts for the unknowns. There is one for World War II, for Korea and for Vietnam, and they lie west of this tomb. And actually the remains that were buried in the Vietnam Tomb were actually exhumed and identified through DNA So now that is a tomb that remains empty.
I want to take you inside the amphitheater, because the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is just getting ready now to address. This is General Martin Dempsey with his remarks.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Mr. President, Secretary Hagel, Secretary Shinseki, members of Congress, distinguished guests, veterans, fellow Americans, and most especially the families of our missing and fallen warriors, welcome.
One hundred and fifty years ago this November, at the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most monumental and enduring speeches in American history. In his Gettysburg Address, delivered at a ceremony not unlike this one, to an audience much like you, Lincoln eloquently memorialized those who gave their lives so that future generations of Americans might live in freedom. He also reiterated the very principles of our democracy.
But Lincoln did something more in his 272-word address. He challenged the audience, the nation to honor the memory of the fallen by recommitting themselves to the virtues for which they fought and died. After humbly miscalculating the lasting nature of his words, Lincoln urged, and I quote, "for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." How powerful, how poetic, and how proper.
We stand here today in this cemetery, Arlington, created during the war of which Lincoln spoke. Now it's the home to our nation's fallen, from all of its wars. We stand here, thankful stewards of the blessings that these fallen have passed to us.
But we do not stand alone. Today, across our great nation, in crowded cities or in country towns, grateful citizens will bow their heads in honor of our fallen heroes. That's devotion. Whether gathered at a picnic or in a parade, a baseball game or a solemn cemetery like this one, Americans will remember. They will remember that the peace and the liberty we enjoy each and every day were made possible by the devotion and sacrifice of a long line of brave men and women in uniform.
And that line, my friends, has continued to grow. Today, America's uniformed sons and daughters are on patrol in Afghanistan and on many other places on the frontiers of freedom throughout the world. Our young men and women are serving as honorably and as bravely today as their forefathers did. When the nation called them to duty, they came. I'm inspired each and every day by their sense of purpose, their personal courage, their character, and their confidence. They are the best led, the best trained, and the best equipped force on the face of the Earth. And as a nation, we must ensure that they remain so.
So today I join everyone here and across this great land in honoring those who have willingly sacrificed while donning the cloth of our nation. So, too, we honor their loved ones who nobly carry on. Today I ask all of us to reflect on this great nation, founded on service and forged in sacrifice. Let us renew and rededicate ourselves to the best of America -- its freedom, its responsibility, and its promise -- and may peace be our ultimate cause.
May God bless our fallen, our missing, our veterans and their families. May we be forever grateful, and may God bless America. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, listen now as technical sergeant Daniel Anderson of the United States Air Force performs "America, the Beautiful."
(PERFORMANCE: "AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL")
(APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, Secretary Hagel.
(APPLAUSE)
CHUCK HAGEL, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Mr. President, Mrs. Obama, Secretary Shinseki, General Dempsey, fellow veterans, servicemembers, and distinguished guests, Lilibet and I are greatly honored to be here with all of you today as we observe Memorial Day. Together, we gather to remember America's sons and daughters who sacrificed everything in the defense of our nation. For generations, Americans have set aside this day to honor those who have fought and died to keep our nation safe.
A Civil War veteran, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "Every year in the full tide of spring, at the height of the symphony of flowers and love and life, there comes a pause and, through the silence, we hear the lonely pipe of death."
Every Memorial Day, America is reminded of these selfless individuals, America's quiet heroes. We also think of America's new generation of defenders, protecting the nation's interests in every corner of the globe, preserving our freedoms and our way of life. They work for a more peaceful and hopeful world.
As General Douglas MacArthur said, "The soldier all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."
The memories of America's heroes laid to rest here at Arlington and at American cemeteries around the world are kept alive by families and communities across our great land. This Memorial Day, we honor those families who are heroes left behind.
We honor them in appreciation for the sacrifices they have endured. We also honor the perseverance and the resilience of our military families today, for they are dealing with all of the challenges of life. America thanks you.
All of us in positions of trust and responsibility must always make decisions that are worthy of the sacrifices of those who serve our country.
