Collierville, Tennessee
December 9, 2001
"Congressman and Mrs. Bryant, Mayor Kerley, Collierville Aldermen, honored guests:
"Thank you for permitting me to participate in this special memorial today. On behalf of the State Senate and the entire State of Tennessee, our debt of gratitude can never be repaid for the service you have rendered to this grateful state and nation.
"Sixty days ago or so, we stood on this Square and gave thanks for the memories of those who perished on September 11. We prayed for their loved ones and sought strength to right the great wrong wrought on that peaceful autumn morning in America. And we summoned the strength it would take to keep the commitment of our Fathers to preserve and safeguard freedom's future.
"Sixty years ago, on a peaceful Sunday morning, a sleeping giant was awakened at the Harbor they call Pearl, and we stand here together again in Collierville today to honor not only those who gave their lives but those who survived and shaped our lives by the example they set from that day forward.
"The Pearl Harbor Generation was to have the 'rendezvous with destiny.' And you did. And you came to be known as 'the Greatest Generation.' And you are. But Franklin Roosevelt said "we look for a younger generation that is going to be more American than we are." And, no doubt, you wondered about the next generation. After all you gave, all you risked, all you suffered, no doubt you wondered whether America of the new millennium could ever truly appreciate the products of the freedom for which you fought.
"But now you know. Your rendezvous with destiny was not at Pearl Harbor. Nor was it Iwo Jima nor Hiroshima nor aboard the Battleship Missouri when victory was sealed. It came after September 11, almost sixty years later, when America was tested once again, that you saw whether she remembered the lessons of your sacrifice and could rise to the level of your service to preserve the peace you had passed on. Modern America is your destiny, a grateful Nation still willing and able to safeguard the freedom we hold so dear.
"Today, in so many small towns like Collierville which make America one Great Nation, we pause to pay you tribute. Thank you for the freedom you have given us and for the power of patriotism. It stirs our spirit and bodes well that the next generation might be as American as you have made us. May God bless and keep you."
