To: Kathy
” There is nothing I can say which is wholly adequate to this occasion . Only the accumulated praise of time will pay proper tribute to our valiant dead . long after those who lament their immediate loss are themselves dead , these men will be mourned by the nation . For they are the nation’s loss . There is talk of great history , of the greatest fight in our history , of unheard-of sacrifice and of unheard-of courage . These phrases are correct , but they are prematurely employed . The evidence has not been sufficiently examined . Even the words and phrases used by historians to describe the fight for Iwo Jima , when the piecemeal story of our dead comes to light ,will still be inadequate . Victory was never in doubt . Its cost was . What was in doubt , in all our minds ,was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end , or whether the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gun and gunner . Let the world count the crosses . Let them count them over and over . Let us do away with names , with ranks and rates and unit designations ,here . Do away with the terms -regular ,reserve , veteran ,boot ,oldtimer ,replacement . They are empty categorizing words which belong only in the adjutants dull vocabulary . Here lie only , only Marines ” General Graves B. Erskine – Commanding General – 3rd Marine Division – Iwo Jima Upon the dedication of the last (temporary) Marine cemetery ( 3rdDiv) on Iwo Jima , March 14 , 1945 |
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