Remarks by President John F. Kennedy Veterans Day National
Ceremony Arlington National Cemetery November 11, 1961 PRESIDENT
KENNEDY: General Gavan, Mr. Gleason, members of the military
forces, veterans, fellow Americans: Today we are here to
celebrate and to honor and to commemorate the dead and the
living, the young men who in every war since this country began
have given testimony to their loyalty to their country and their
own great courage. I do not believe that any nation in the
history of the world has buried its soldiers farther from its
native soil than we Americans -- or buried them closer to the
towns in which they grew up. We celebrate this Veterans Day for
a very few minutes, a few seconds of silence and then this
country's life goes on. But I think it most appropriate that we
recall on this occasion, and on every other moment when we are
faced with great responsibilities, the contribution and the
sacrifice which so many men and their families have made in
order to permit this country to now occup