Veterans Day Remarks 2019

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS A MIRACLE, which some take for granted.  But the high ideals of the Revolution—“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”—were made possible by those who served.

     Recently, the value of America’s word was placed in doubt.  And now the question has been raised:   How can it be restored?  But there is no mystery.  The answer was provided long ago.

     George Washington was with his troops at Valley Forge, and that made a difference.  For during the Battle of Monmouth, the Continentals were in disarray.  They had turned their backs and were running away, stepping into the moment where armies are destroyed.  But, upon arrival, Washington rode over to the field commander and dressed him down so forcefully that Lafayette thought the leaves were going to fall off the trees.  Then he rode over to the soldiers and demanded their best efforts.  They reformed their ranks and fought the finest army in the world to a standstill.

     The man who had been Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces presided over the writing of the Constitution.  Once signed, Alexander Hamilton, a former artillery officer who later became his aide de camp, pushed for its ratification.  When approved, President Washington had Secretary of War Henry Knox, a former artillery officer, send a report to Congress, foreshadowed by Hamilton in The Federalist Papers, in support of Universal National Service.  And the report made it clear that “the common defense” did not mean only the common people would be doing the defending:  “All being bound, none can complain of injustice, on being obliged to perform his equal proportion.”   (Emphasis added)

     An early draft of the Constitution said the Commander in Chief was not to assume command in

person.  Yet the offending phrase was removed.  The American Presidency was to be a position for those who are profiles in courage.  Cowards need not apply.  Thus, Washington made it possible for a future Commander in Chief to be in the field with the troops, so that the relationship he had established with them—to insure the life of the Republic—could endure throughout the ages.  Furthermore, much is required of those who aspire to leadership, as the Knox Report reminds us:  “Therefore, it ought to be a permanent rule, that those who in youth decline or refuse to subject themselves to the course of military education, established by the laws, should be considered as unworthy of public trust or public honors, and be excluded therefrom accordingly.”

     Character is the union of thought, word, and deed directed toward a noble end.  And the rebellion against the King was animated by the Spirit of ’76—the pledge of “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”  George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Knox showed how America’s word was to be kept.  For credibility is not an abstraction—an intellectual proposition—when your word means your life.  And so, it is not time to play but to tell the truth:  Will the real Americans—those who know that citizenship consists of rights and duties—please stand up?

     May God bless all the members of the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Community, and the Diplomatic Corps.  And may God bless the United States of America.

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.