Duty, Honor, Country

In the passing of each day we sometimes forget the struggles faced by generations before us. Great leaders of the past rallied citizens, soldiers, and nations to do great deeds. They did so through their words and that is why I keep a collection of what I consider to be "Great Speeches".

There is the speech given by General George Patton to the US Third Army in 1944...

Each man must not only think of himself, but of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this army. They should all be killed off like flies. If not they will go back home after the war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed brave men. Kill off the goddamn cowards and we'll have a nation of brave men. [Read the rest]

On May 12, 1962, General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Sylvanus Thayer Award and delivered the following speech to the 4,000+ Corps of cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York:

"Duty," "Honor," "Country" — those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you want to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.

The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule. [Read The Rest]

Speech before the people of the city of West Berlin, June 12, 1987.
President Reagan's words at the Brandenburg Gate

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom. [Read The Rest]

Speech to The House of Commons Winston Churchill
June 4, 1940

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old. [Read The Rest]

Delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" [Read The Rest]

The President's Remarks at The National Day of Prayer and Remembrance at The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

September 14, 2001
1:00 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation's sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who love them. [Read The Rest]

These speeches are a part of our history. Not only do they deserve to be remembered but they also help us to view current events with the proper perspective.

Other Great Speeches are here.