CHAIRMAN BUYER COMMEMORATES 60^th ANNIVERSARY

OF WORLD WAR II VICTORY  

Today marks the 60^th anniversary of the signal achievement of America’s greatest generation.  On this day in Tokyo Bay, 1945, the forces of Imperial Japan signed the surrender that ended six years of the global cataclysm known by history as World War II.   

We call these men and women, 16 million of whom served in military uniform during the war, and 400,000 of whom died in service, the Greatest Generation.  They have earned that name not only because of their victory in world war.  For this is the generation that was forged in the crucible of the Great Depression.  This is the generation which, after 1945, went to school and bought homes with the GI Bill, and built a new, more prosperous America.  This is the generation that revolutionized medicine, supported civil rights, knit our cities with great highways, and pioneered space exploration.  This is the generation that stood firm in the face of totalitarian Communism and gave with unmatched generosity to the world’s poor.   

President Harry S. Truman, in a radio address broadcast that was part of the surrender ceremonies on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri, in Tokyo Bay, paid tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and who bore the pain of loss.  He invoked our nation’s consequent obligation and spoke with promise of the future open to us through their sacrifices:  

“God grant that in our pride of the hour, we may not forget the hard tasks that are still before us; that we may approach these with the same courage, zeal, and patience with which we faced the trials and problems of the past 4 years.

Our first thoughts, of course--thoughts of gratefulness and deep obligation--go out to those of our loved ones who have been killed or maimed in this terrible war. On land and sea and in the air, American men and women have given their lives so that this day of ultimate victory might come and assure the survival of a civilized world. No victory can make good their loss.

We think of those whom death in this war has hurt, taking from them fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, and sisters whom they loved. No victory can bring back the faces they longed to see.

Only the knowledge that the victory, which these sacrifices have made possible, will be wisely used, can give them any comfort. It is our responsibility--ours, the living--to see to it that this victory shall be a monument worthy of the dead who died to win it.” 

Truly, this Greatest Generation has delivered.  Today we who consider it an honor to ensure them a veterans health care and benefits system worthy of their service and sacrifices offer our simple and heartfelt “Thank you, job well done.”