And his remarks while visiting war wounded last Thursday.
Our country is inspired by Americans that we find in facilities like this. Christian Bagge is a guy I met over here at the hospital. I'll never forget looking at Christian's eyes, and wondering whether or not he was going to make it. See, both his legs were blown off, and he didn't look good. I knew he'd get the best possible care. I knew that this government would do everything we could to help him heal, and after talking to him for a minute, I realized he had the courage necessary. He told me one thing -- he looked at me, he said, Mr. President, you don't need to worry about me; someday I'm going to come to the White House and run with you on the South Lawn. I looked at him and said, come on, Christian; I'll be ready when you are, not sure whether or not this good man would really be able to do it; certain he wanted to, but unsure. And if you'd have been in my position, you would have, too. After all, he'd just come off the battlefield and lost both his legs.
Sure enough, the phone call came to the White House. Christian came. Guy who had both legs blown off, as a result of the care and compassion, and as a result of the courage in his heart, came to run with the President at the White House. Plus, he outran me.
The spirit of America is strong in facilities like this. Our country is a remarkable country that has produced men and women who volunteer to protect our nation in the face of danger. And there's no better example of finding those type of citizens than right here; citizens who have shown incredible courage; citizens who love our country; and citizens whose resolve is inspiring.
- Vets by the numbers (breakdown by war at the link):
America's Wars Total
U.S. Military Service During War................43,185,893Battle Deaths................................................653,708
Other Deaths (In Theater).................................14,560
Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater).............525,930
Non-mortal Woundings................................1,447,281
Living War Veterans..................................17,835,000
Living Veterans (War & Peacetime)............23,698,000
And two sons of vets write about their father's experiences.
- Rich Policz on a battle in Viet Nam in which American forces were outnumbered 10 to 1.
- And if you missed it the first time, our Aussie friend Brett McS's account of his dad's WWII experience.
