(Classified)(Classified)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400410003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 27, 2000
• Sequence Number: 3
• Content Type: SPEECH

STATINTL STATINTL
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ADDRESS TO BE DELIVERED BY GENERAL L. K. TRUSCOTT, JR.
NETUNNO MEMORIAL CEMETERY, ITALY
MEMORIAL DAY, 1958
Ninety years have passed since this date was first observed as
Memorial Day. It was established by order of General John A. Logan,
Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans' organization
of the victorious Union Armies soon after the close of our great Civil
War. It has been observed annually since lt$6u. Today, there are few
areas in the world where a grateful people are not paying memorial
honors to those who have given their lives for their country.
Today, in our Nation's capital, another ceremony is taking place.
In Arlington National Cemetery the highest officials of our government,
civil and military, and diplomatic dignitaries, are laying to final
rest two more of our fallen comrades. Beside the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier, they are placing a member of the Armed Forces who gave his
life during World War II; and another lost in the Korean conflict.
Three comrades of our Armed Forces now will sleep under the perpetual
symbolic honor guard of surviving comrades. Three now will "rest in
honored glory known but to God".
Yesterday, I had the honor of laying a wreath at the Tomb of Italy's
Unknown Soldier. It was not only a memorial on behalf of our own armed
forces to the dead of our Italian comrades. It is also symbolic of the
gratitude which all Americans feel for the respect and dare which the
Italian people have shown for the fallen Americans buried in Italian
soil -- and of the bond of friendship that unites our nations.
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MY SPECIAL PRIVILEGE.
It is a special privilege for me to return to this particular spot.
It brings back a flood of memories. My first sight of Pontine plains
and Alban Hills was on a Sunday morning more than fourteen years ago.
That morning this blue Mediterranean was filled with a great invasion
fleet. That fleet carried the VI Corps which was to establish the
beach head here. In the VI Corps was the United States 3d Infantry
Division, the British lst Division and many other elements. I waded
ashore in command of the 3d Infantry Division on beaches just over
there. Rome, - that beautiful city, - and the Alban Hills did not then
seem far away.
But they were. More than four weary months were to pass; many
thousand lives would be lost; and there was to be untold destruction
of wealth and beauty, before this Allied Corps would be first in Rome.
It is to honor those who sleep beneath this sod -- who fell here and
elsewhere in this fair land -- and through them all those of our
Allied Forces and of our Italian friends -- who have fallen in the
service of their country, that we gather here today.
MY MEMORIES
Gazing over the stately scene in this green Memorial park I am
reminded of my first Memorial Day on this hallowed place. The battle
then still rumbled in the distance. The Alban Hills were shrouded
still in battle smoke. Four months of siege had wrecked the towns
of Anzio and Nettuno.... and had devastated these fair field and
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farm homes. Thousands of local citizens had been torn from home and
fireside and transported to a place of greater safety. Winter had
passed, Spring had come. Mud had given way to dust. Dust hung
heavy in the hot May air, stirred by the trucks and tanks of moving
troops. That Memorial Day, I joined with General Clark and a few other
commanders who could leave the battle for a brief period. We looked
out over the thousands who then had fallen. There was no green grass.
The graves were mounds of raw, brown earth -- row on row -- each
marked by temporary cross or star.
We listened to the prayers of rabbi, priest and parson. We heard
the testimonial of living comrades, some of them soon to die. We felt
the sorrow of a grieving nation. And we promised we would never forget.
it was my privilege to come again in 1945. The war in Europe was
ended. I thought then that I was saying farewell forever to my
sleeping comrades, for I would soon be going home -- to the homeland
they would never see again. It was a sad occasion for me,.and I told
them farewell here.
But I returned to Europe in 1951 on other duty. Once more in 1952,
it was my privilege to come again. That year this work of reconstruction
was under way. And now, thanks to the labor of comrades and the
affectionate care of our Italian friends, we have this beautiful spot.
We can say again: We have not forgotten.
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WHAT MADE THEM DIE:
Well may we ask what made these men lay down their lives? They
did not want to die. They loved life. They loved home -- the
towns, cities, farms and shops, -- the rivers, forests, plains and
mountains of their native land. They had no wish to be in foreign
lands, -- only to be at home in peace.
What made them endure the regimentation of military life, -- the
monotony of drill, the hardship of desert, jungle, mountain, swamp
and waste? What made them endure the dangers of battle on land, at
sea, in air?
These men, I knew them well. Their simplicity, sincereity,
courage, fears, and good will. And yes, their shyness. They were
not articulate in what was in their hearts. When one asked them why
they fought, one got a simple answer devoid of high-flown phrase.
But their hearts were deep with feeling their tongues could not express.
They loved their country. They believed in the dignity of man as
an individual. They were individuals filled with great dignity. They
believed in the right of man to express freely and without fear opinions
in speech and print. They believed in a world where an individual
might achieve and enjoy the blessings of life, secure in person and
property. They believed in the right of man to worship in the religion
of his choice according to the dictates of his conscience. They
believed in the right of nations to have governments of their own choice
under which people might live without fear. Because they did, they
responded to their country's call. Those whom we honor here today
gave their lives that the way of life they loved should continue in
the world.
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HAVE WE KEPT FAITH?
When that war was over, a rule of law and order was to supplant
the rule of force among the nations. Remember? Delegates from the
nations of the world met in solemn conclave before the dust of battle
had settled over war's destruction. Without waiting to conclude formal
treaties of peace, the-delegates of the nations agreed upon a World
Organization. The Preamble of that charter of the United Nations
summarized the hopes of men, the causes for which these comrades died.
I quote:
"We the peoples of the United Nations
"Determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge
of war which twice in our life time has brought untold sorrow
to mankind, and
"To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the
dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal right of
men and women and of nations large and small, and
"To establish conditions under which justice and respect
for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of
international law can be maintained, and
"To promote social standards and better standards of life
in larger freedom, and for these ends
"To unite our strength to maintain international peace
and security, and
"To insure, by the acceptance of principles and the
institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used,
save in the common interest, and
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"To employ international machinery for the promotion of
economic and social advancement of all people, have resolved
to combine our efforts to accomplish these ends.
"Accordingly our respective governments ..... have agreed
to the present charter of the United Nations and do hereby
establish an organization to be known as the United Nations."
These are the noble objectives.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY IMPRESSIVE.
I am impressed by the economic and industrial recovery that I
see about me when I return to Italy and other parts of Europe. It
is good to see that the scars of war are gone from this great
battlefield. It is good to see these gracious towns of Anzio and
Nettuno restored to. their former beauty. It is. good to see a people
at work, enjoying the fruits of their labor. Tam glad that our own
country has been able to help the people of Italy and other nations
who suffered the holocaust of war recover from the devastation of
battle. Would it not be wonderful now if we lived in a world at
peace, where all nations lived up to the noble precepts of that
United Nations Charter?
SITUATION TODAY.
But the record since the end of World War II is not a happy one.
There is little need for me to remind you of it. In the first flush
of victory we. of the Western World dismantled our great fighting
machines and returned our men and women to the pursuits of peace.
After all, there were to be no more wars. We sought to make the
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United Nations an effective instrument for peace -- for peaceful
solution of international problems. It was not to be.
Soon there was discord among the great powers. The force of
international communism reared its ugly head. One by one the Soviets,
in violation of solemn treaties and agreements, engulfed nations that
had once been free. Then when Czecho-Slovakia was swallowed up and
disappeared behind the Iron Curtain, -- all freedom lost, -- the
statesmen of the Western World realized that Europe and the Western
World could be saved only by prompt and united action. Our alliance
in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, -- NATO -- under provisions
of the United,Nations Charter, was the result. It remains today the
bulwark of the liberties of Europe and the Western World.
But the march of international communism directed from Moscow
flowed on like the murky waters of a creeping flood. China was
engulfed. Korea and Viet Nam suffered bloody wars and remain divided.
Other governments of Asia, the Arab World, and elsewhere have been and
are being undermined. Only the alliances of NATO, the Baghdad Pact,
and SEATO hold the more overt threat in check. And the great and gallant
fight of the Hungarian people for Liberty, -- so fresh in all our
minds, -- was crushed in a sea of blood under the steel treads of.Russian
tanks.
WE ARE STILL IN DANGER.
Let us make no mistake. The Western way of life, -- the way
of life for which our comrades here died, -- is still in peril.
After more than ten yeaxs of negotiations, any real agreement looking
toward international disarmament is farther away than ever -- farther
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away than when only our country possessed the nuclear--capability-
for war, and offered it for international control.
Today, the achievements of the Soviet scientists in the nuclear
field, in missiles, in the launching of flights into outer space, all
merit the admiration and respect of all the world, The development
of the. Soviet economy and its industrial progress which has made this
advancement possible has also been remarkable and merits high praise.
But let us not forget. These developments and this progress have not
been the work of free men. They have been accomplished by a tyrannical
dictatorship that has ruthlessly exterminated all who opposed, whether
friend or foe. Every advance has been paid for in a river of blood --
and the river has all, too often flowed with the blood of its own people,--
as. well as the blood of those like the Hungarian Freedom Fighters. And
besides these exterminated victims, there have been untold millions who
have fled from the communist terror to seek refuge in the West.
CONCLUSION.
Make no mistake. There is no such thing as 'peaceful co-existence'.
Not because the people of the Western World are not willing to live at
peace with all peoples of the world, but because the communist menace will
not have it so. It penetrates and bores from within to undermine free
governments and free institutions. And it bars by the Iron Curtain the
exchange of free ideas and free thoughts no less than the free exchange
of goods. In Asia, the Middle East, in Africa, in France, in Italy itself,
and in all the countries of the world this cold war continues. There can
be no neutrals in this fight for liberty.
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We cannot say to our fallen comrades here, in the British cemetery
just over there, and in the hundreds of memorial spots all over the
world: "The task for which you died has been accomplished. Your
country is no more in danger." Rather should we say in the words of
the immortal President Lincoln on. another great battlefield:
"It is for us the living, to be here dedicated to the
unfinished work which those who fought here have thus far so
nobly advanced. It is rather 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 -- that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that
this nation, under God,, shall have a new birth of freedom,
and that government of the people, by the people, and for the
people shall not perish from the earth."
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