第4章 英雄赞歌[3] Remember These Heroes

非常感谢。请坐。各位早上好！谢谢帕内塔的介绍以及他对我们国家所做出的重大贡献。同时还要感谢邓普希上将、雷宁顿少将、凯瑟琳·康登和贝里牧师，感谢今天出席此次纪念活动的所有人——现役或退伍军人以及逝者的亲人和朋友们。

这600英亩土地是这些来自美国不同的地方、牺牲在世界每一个角落的人的家园。当我们的革命事业和我们的国家遭遇危险时，他们为守卫心中那份信念，背井离乡，拿起武器，从越南丛林到阿富汗山区，他们一路服从命令，响应号召，勇往直前。他们为家园而战，而他们或许再也回不去，他们还为一生的挚友而战，他们的故事或许会传到千里之外，传遍千家万户，但此刻，他们整齐地躺在了这里，他们对这个国家及其所代表的一切的热爱胜过了自己的生命。

作为美国人，今天我们一起到这里来缅怀和追悼这些英雄，并为他们祈祷。而明天，这片神圣的地方将重新属于那一小部分的访客，他们径直地从大门进来穿过草坪，无论酷暑严寒，无论刮风下雨，他们沿着那条熟悉的小道，来到一个固定的位置，跪在那块熟悉的墓石前。你们是逝者的家人与朋友——可能是父母和孩子、妻子和丈夫、生前和身后的兄弟姐妹，你们把自己心灵的一部分也留在了这些树下，这里也是你们的家。

你们的脚步回溯着我们的历史。而这个阵亡将士纪念日，我们会标明另一座里程碑。9年来，美国人在伊拉克第一次不是在战斗，而是在死亡。（鼓掌）我们的部队已经扫清了阿富汗战争，他们将陆续撤回。（鼓掌）经过了长达10年的战争阴影，我们终于迎来了新的一天的曙光。

但是，对于那些失去至亲的人，枪声消失后，这一章仍将持续很长时间。而今天，随着伊拉克战争的结束，我想我们该到了向那些为平息战争而做出牺牲的人致敬的时候了。

2003年3月，开战第一天，我们的一架直升飞机坠毁在了伊拉克与科威特交界的边境地区。当时，机上共有四名海军陆战队队员，他们分别是：少校杰伊·奥宾、上尉赖安·博普雷、下士布莱恩·甘乃迪和参谋军士肯德尔·沃特斯贝。他们也是伊拉克战争的第一批伤亡人员。在他们的家人和朋友还未来得及记录下战争的开始时，他们便不得不面对它所带来的巨大伤痛。

8年零7个月又25天之后，当军医戴维·希克曼在巴格达开车进行巡逻时，他的车撞到了路边汽车炸弹，壮烈牺牲。作为一名爱国军人，他也成为4500多名牺牲在伊拉克战争中的最后一人。戴维死后一个月——最后一批美国军队，也是戴维所属部队，开始奉令回国——我在布拉格堡见到了希克曼的家人。他们即将迎来的是一个艰难的旅程，正如你们当中的大多数在他们之前曾经历过的——在未来的几个月或几年，或许会有更多家庭要经历的旅程。

对今天来到这里的家庭，我将重复对希克曼的家人曾经说过的话：我完全能够理解你们所失去的。作为一个父亲，我完全能够想象敲门声响的那一刻，你知道你最害怕发生的事情发生了的时候的感觉。但作为总司令，我能告诉你们的是，派遣我们的部队到有危险的地方，是我做出的最痛苦的决定，但也是我不得不做的决定。

作为国家，我们中所有人都应该问问自己，想想如何帮你们分担这一不应由任何个人来承担的负担。对于你们的父亲和母亲、儿子和女儿，这些为这个国家贡献出了自己的全部的战士，我们已经给了他们荣誉，但对于你们，我们得问问自己，为帮助你们和你们的家庭并给予你们支持和力量，我们能做些什么。

有件事我们可以做到，那就是像你们一样永远铭记这些英雄——不只是记住排列在这里的一列列墓碑、一个数字或墓碑上的一个名字，而是把他们当做真真正正的美国人，铭记于心，他们还都很年轻，但是在爱的指引下，为了家庭，为了彼此，为了这个国家，他们做出了牺牲。

我们能记住杰伊·奥宾，一名飞行员，他在航空母舰上与他的妻子相遇，在出发前，他还告诉他的母亲：“如果发生什么不幸，请不要悲伤，因为我做的是我所热爱的事业。”

我们能记住赖安·博普雷，这位总是跑第一棒的田径明星，他也总是第一个行动起来的人，他辞掉了会计工作，加入了海军陆战队，因为他说，他想让他的生命更有意义。

我们能记住布莱恩·甘乃迪，他曾是一名攀岩者和长曲棍球的狂热球迷，在他飞机出事的两天前，他曾告诉他的父亲说，他所属的海军陆战队的队员，是他所遇到过的最好的人，他们是他永远的朋友。

我们能记住肯德尔·沃特斯贝，一位值得骄傲的父亲，一位值得巴尔的摩骄傲的儿子，他曾被一名海军陆战队队员称为“黑暗世界里的一线光明”。

我们能记住戴维·希克曼，战争开始时他还是一名高中新生，他半开玩笑地称自己是“宙斯”，他是一位忠诚的朋友，有着极富感染力的笑容。

我们能记住他们。我们能够承担起对逝者和那些正在与自己进行着一场不同寻常的真实战斗的家庭所应负的责任。

今天到场的所有军人，请记住：长眠于山丘下的这些人，曾为太多而战——为家庭，为信念——但说到底，他们是为你们而战。只要我任总统一天，我就能保证你和你所热爱的人都能得到你们应得的权益、荣誉及尊重。美国将永远属于你们。（鼓掌）

最后，为那些在心理上背负着沉重负担的人，我们会努力成为一个值得你们为之牺牲的国家，一个公正、和平、自由、平等的国家，一个尊重每一个生命付出的国家，一个所有人都能对彼此、对我们热爱着的这个国度履行应尽义务的国家。这是我们能做到的。

作为总统，作为当今世界实力最强部队的总司令，我感到无上光荣。（鼓掌）在今天这样的日子里，我对这样一个事实感到十分自豪，那就是，这个国家一直以来都是这些奉献出自己一切、直至无可奉献的人的家。我对那些还在国内外服役的将士的力量与决心感到振奋。而我也知道，我们必须努力才能对得起你们的牺牲。

愿上帝保佑你们，保佑逝者，保佑我们的军队，保佑美国！

附：英文原文

Thank you very much. Please be seated. Good morning, everybody. Thank you, Secretary Panetta, for your introduction and for your incredible service to our country. To General Dempsey, Major General Linnington, Kathryn Condon, Chaplain Berry, all of you who are here today — active duty, veterans, family and friends of the fallen — thank you for allowing me the privilege of joining you in this sacred place to commemorate Memorial Day.

These 600 acres are home to Americans from every part of the country who gave their lives in every corner of the globe. When a revolution needed to be waged and a Union needed to be saved, they left their homes and took up arms for the sake of an idea. From the jungles of Vietnam to the mountains of Afghanistan, they stepped forward and answered the call. They fought for a home they might never return to; they fought for buddies they would never forget. And while their stories may be separated by hundreds of years and thousands of miles, they rest here, together, side-by-side, row-by-row, because each of them loved this country, and everything it stands for, more than life itself.

Today, we come together, as Americans, to pray, to reflect, and to remember these heroes. But tomorrow, this hallowed place will once again belong to a smaller group of visitors who make their way through the gates and across these fields in the heat and in the cold, in the rain and the snow, following a well-worn path to a certain spot and kneeling in front of a familiar headstone.

You are the family and friends of the fallen — the parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters by birth and by sacrifice. And you, too, leave a piece of your hearts beneath these trees. You, too, call this sanctuary home.

Together, your footsteps trace the path of our history. And this Memorial Day, we mark another milestone. For the first time in nine years, Americans are not fighting and dying in Iraq. (Applause) We are winding down the war in Afghanistan, and our troops will continue to come home. (Applause) After a decade under the dark cloud of war, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.

Especially for those who've lost a loved one, this chapter will remain open long after the guns have fallen silent. Today, with the war in Iraq finally over, it is fitting to pay tribute to the sacrifice that spanned that conflict.

In March of 2003, on the first day of the invasion, one of our helicopters crashed near the Iraqi border with Kuwait. On it were four Marines: Major Jay Aubin, Captain Ryan Beaupre, Corporal Brian Kennedy and Staff Sergeant Kendall Waters-Bey. Together, they became the first American casualties of the Iraq war. Their families and friends barely had time to register the beginning of the conflict before being forced to confront its awesome costs.

Eight years, seven months and 25 days later, Army Specialist David Hickman was on patrol in Baghdad. That's when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb. He became the last of nearly 4,500 American patriots to give their lives in Iraq. A month after David's death — the days before the last American troops, including David, were scheduled to come home — I met with the Hickman family at Fort Bragg. Right now, the Hickmans are beginning a very difficult journey that so many of your families have traveled before them — a journey that even more families will take in the months and years ahead.

To the families here today, I repeat what I said to the Hickmans: I cannot begin to fully understand your loss. As a father, I cannot begin to imagine what it's like to hear that knock on the door and learn that your worst fears have come true. But as Commander-In-Chief, I can tell you that sending our troops into harm's way is the most wrenching decision that I have to make. I can promise you I will never do so unless it's absolutely necessary, and that when we do, we must give our troops a clear mission and the full support of a grateful nation. (Applause)

And as a country, all of us can and should ask ourselves how we can help you shoulder a burden that nobody should have to bear alone. As we honor your mothers and fathers, your sons and daughters, we have given — who have given their last full measure of devotion to this country, we have to ask ourselves how can we support you and your families and give you some strength?

One thing we can do is remember these heroes as you remember them — not just as a rank, or a number, or a name on a headstone, but as Americans, often far too young, who were guided by a deep and abiding love for their families, for each other, and for this country.

We can remember Jay Aubin, the pilot, who met his wife on an aircraft carrier, and told his mother before shipping out, “If anything happens to me, just know I'm doing what I love.”

We can remember Ryan Beaupre, the former track star, running the leadoff leg, always the first one into action, who quit his job as an accountant and joined the Marines because he wanted to do something more meaningful with his life.

We can remember Brian Kennedy, the rock climber and lacrosse fanatic, who told his father two days before his helicopter went down that the Marines he served alongside were some of the best men he'd ever dealt with, and they'd be his friends forever.

We can remember Kendall Waters-Bey, a proud father, a proud son of Baltimore, who was described by a fellow servicemember as“a light in a very dark world.”

And we can remember David Hickman, a freshman in high school when the war began, a fitness fanatic who half-jokingly called himself“Zeus,” a loyal friend with an infectious laugh.

We can remember them. And we can meet our obligations to those who did come home, and their families who are in the midst of a different, but very real battle of their own.

To all our men and women in uniform who are here today, know this: The patriots who rest beneath these hills were fighting for many things — for their families, for their flag — but above all, they were fighting for you. As long as I'm President, we will make sure you and your loved ones receive the benefits you've earned and the respect you deserve. America will be there for you. (Applause)

And finally, for all of you who carry a special weight on your heart, we can strive to be a nation worthy of your sacrifice. A nation that is fair and equal, peaceful and free. A nation that weighs the cost of every human life. A nation where all of us meet our obligations to one another, and to this country that we love. That's what we can do.

As President, I have no higher honor and no greater responsibility than serving as Commander-in-Chief of the greatest military the world has ever known. (Applause) And on days like this, I take pride in the fact that this country has always been home to men and women willing to give of themselves until they had nothing more to give. I take heart in the strength and resolve of those who still serve, both here at home and around the world. And I know that we must always strive to be worthy of your sacrifice.

God bless you. God bless the fallen. God bless our men and women in uniform. And may God bless the United States of America. (Applause)