Ambassador Whitney's remarks at Memorial Day Ceremony (May 23)
Welcome everyone to this Memorial Day Commemoration. Special thanks to the United States Army Europe Chorus for coming to inspire us with their music.
Memorial Day is a day of unity, where Americans come together to honor our fallen service members. It was actually born at a time when our country was divided and torn by a Civil War to rid the nation of the poison that was slavery.
As the war ended, Memorial Day began, with wives, mothers and daughters of the fallen periodically visiting the graves of their fallen soldiers, in individual acts of healing. By 1868, May 30 was declared “Decoration Day”, and became a significant act of desperately needed national healing.
Over time, the nation did heal, and since then, acted with a renewed unity and purpose, not just in commemorations of the past, but more importantly with renewed hopes of the future; hopes of prosperity, of opportunity, of peace.
Over our county’s short history, more than a million service men and women have died to preserve our liberty and the liberty of others. Still we continue to pay those costs, today in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, in order to bring peace and freedom.
These great sacrifices remind us that the cost of war and the price of peace are great. Army General John Logan, in the order dedicating this day in 1868 made a solemn promise about remembrance. He said, “Let no ravages of time testify to the present or the coming generations that we, as a people, have forgotten the cost of a free…republic.” We gather here today, rightly, to honor this promise.
Past and present, the sacrifices of our military and their families have come from all corners of the U.S., and from citizens with ties to all corners of the world, including, of course, Norway.
Among our fallen World War II heroes, were 52 men belonging to the 99th Infantry Battalion, a US battalion comprised completely of Norwegian-Americans.
In the early spring of 1945, 20 members of the 99th parachuted north of Namsos, where they worked until the end of the war keeping German troops from leaving Norway to reinforce the defense of their homeland. They were led by a young Major William Colby, who later went on to become the Director of US Central Intelligence Agency.
The remainder of the 99th fought valiantly, in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, and at the end of the war, deployed to Oslo to assist in repatriating the 300,000 German soldiers who surrendered in Norway.
So as we gather here to commemorate all those service members who paid the ultimate price, I think it is fitting to remember not only what the 52 fallen men of the 99th did, but also who they were. These brave soldiers were Americans but they were never “just Americans.” They carried proud Norwegian names - Paulsen, Johansen, Iversen, Eliasen, Oistad. Norwegian and American, men who died for our freedom and the freedom of others. For that we owe them this day.
I am asking our mission to dedicate this wreath to the fallen of the 99th as representatives of all the men and women who died in service to their country. I am directing the wreath stand in front of the embassy under the flag for which these brave men fought and died. On Monday, Memorial Day at 1500, the wreath will be relocated to the U.S. Memorial Site in Vestre Gravlund.
I am also directing, in accordance with U.S. Memorial Day protocol and custom, that the Marine Detachment fly the Embassy flag at half mast, from dawn until 1200 hours. And finally, I am asking all of us at 1500 on Monday, again in accordance with U.S. Memorial Day protocol and custom, to observe a moment of remembrance, wherever you may be, in order that we never forget the sacrifices made on our behalf.
May God bless.