WEBVTT

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- Over there.

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On behalf of the Friends of the

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National World War II Memorial, it's my

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tremendous honor to welcome you today.

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Thank you for joining us as
we mark the 75th anniversary

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of the Battle of Iwo Jima,

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a U.S. amphibious assault to capture

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the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima.

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The 36-day battle resulted in hard-fought

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American victory that
caused many casualties,

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and the action remains an iconic symbol of

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American and Marine fighting spirit.

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Very interesting to note
that the Japanese forces

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actually evacuated the civilians.

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About a thousand people
lived on this little island

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of seven square miles, before the battle.

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So there were no civilian casualties.

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The Friends of the World
War II Memorial is a small,

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non-profit organization
whose mission is to

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honor and preserve the
national memory of World War II

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and to create the next Greatest
Generation of tomorrow,

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run by a small staff, board
of directors, generous donors,

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dedicated volunteers, many
of whom are here today.

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The Friends sponsors annual
public lecture series

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featuring prominent
historians, hosts an annual

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teachers conference in Washington, D.C.,

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and collects and archives
video interviews of

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World War II veterans and other members of

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the Greatest Generation.
This morning's ceremony is

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part of the Friends of the
National World War II Memorial's

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four-year World War II 75th
Anniversary Commemoration,

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which kicked off on
Pearl Harbor Day in 2016,

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will continue until the
75th anniversary of VJ Day,

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which is September 2, 2020.

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The Friends is the only
organization hosting a full

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four-year 75th Anniversary
Commemoration marking every

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major battle to which
American troops participated

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during World War II. Now,
please stand at attention

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and render appropriate honors
for the presentation of colors

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and the playing of the National Anthem.

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And if you'd like to know,
you can put your hand

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over your heart, or if you're in uniform,

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you'll probably salute.

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(Sergeant shouting orders)

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(marching)

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(Sergeant shouting orders)

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- The National Anthem will now be played.

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("The Star-Spangled Banner")

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(Sergeant shouting orders)

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- The colors are now being retired.

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You may be seated at this time,

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and we're going to have an invocation from

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Navy Chaplain Commander Gary Thornton.

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- Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

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Let us pray. Almighty,
gracious, and loving God,

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we invite your presence
and we give you thanks

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as we begin this Battle of
Iwo Jima 75th Commemoration

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here at our nation's
World War II Memorial.

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Lord, the invasion of
this tiny, porous, barren,

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and sulfur-sanded volcanic
island in the middle of

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the western Pacific on
this day so long ago,

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is a hallmark in naval,
Marine Corps, and indeed,

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war-fighting history. The
gallant effort exhibited by

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the Marines and accompanying sailors

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to capture Mount Suribachi
is indelibly burned

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into our minds.

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There are few photographs in all of

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American history, as iconic
as the flag raisings.

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They are instantly recognizable.

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Lord, the heroism, bravery, dedication,

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and selfless sacrifice of
these valiant young men

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over 36 days of fighting,
secured the strategic atoll,

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which in turn, paved the
way for Allied victory

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in the Pacific theater of World War II.

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Thank you for sustaining
and strengthening them.

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And thank you for their righteous victory.

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God of our fathers, we
are grateful for all of

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our World War II
veterans, especially those

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who are here today, who
served on land, in the air,

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on the sea, and under the sea.

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We express special gratitude,
and we bless the memory

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of all of those who paid ultimate price,

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who made the supreme sacrifice,

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the giving of their lives.
They died, but not in vain.

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May we who now serve
demonstrate the same courage and

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conviction as those referred
to as the Greatest Generation.

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Eternal One, we close this
prayer asking that you

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would be with our brave
young service members,

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men and women, even now
deployed and in harm's way.

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Guard them, guide them,
and grant them your peace,

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power, and protection.
Holy Father, once again,

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we invite your presence here today,

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and we give you thanks.
This we pray in the name

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of the one who is semper
fidelis, always faithful. Amen.

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- Thank you, Chaplain.
Thank you, Chaplain.

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Please be seated.

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Before I continue, I would like

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to recognize a few guests.
We actually have some

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World War II veterans here.
Ira Rigor, if you could just

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stand briefly, so people
can see who you are.

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(applause)

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He was with the Navy
construction battalions,

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known as the Seabees,
in the Pacific theater.

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He was at Guam, Peleliu,
and the Battle of Iwo Jima.

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How 'bout that? Because
of his experiences,

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he became very successful
when he returned home.

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Home improvement business became a major

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swimming pool supplier for
the people of Washington, D.C.

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Harry Miller is here today,
a veteran of World War II,

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Korea, and Vietnam.

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(applause)

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I know some of you have heard
of the Battle of the Bulge,

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but you may not know
that some of our soldiers

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were only 16 years old. He's one of them.

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He ended up serving it
with the Army in Korea,

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and with the Air Force during Vietnam.

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He just enjoyed military life.

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We really want to thank
Constantine Rizopolous.

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(applause) Served with
the Army Air Force during

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World War II in the Philippines.

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And after the war, earned his
Bachelor's and Master's Degree

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in mathematics, and went
on to teach mathematics

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at the high school and university level.

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Thank you. A pleasure to
have you, Constantine.

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(applause)

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Privileged to have here
today several family members

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of those who served bravely
during the Battle of Iwo Jima,

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but who are no longer with us.

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Could the family members
stand, if any of them are here?

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Here we go. (applause)

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Yes, 75 years ago is
when this battle began.

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And thank you all for being here today

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to mark this significant historic event.

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Let me now welcome to the podium

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a fellow veteran of
Vietnam, Josiah Bunting III,

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chairman of the Friends of

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the National World War II Memorial.

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Mr. Bunting.

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(applause)

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- Thank you, sir.

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It's important, I think,
for all of us to recognize

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that we're standing and
sitting on hallowed ground.

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We're at the midpoint between
the monument commemorating

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the founder of our country and
its most important preserver.

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We have a generation coming
along which many of us believe

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is not being sufficiently well

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and inspirationally
instructed in the history,

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particularly the recent
military history of our country.

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One of our missions at
the World War II Memorial

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is to work with high school
teachers in the summertime.

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We bring in almost a hundred of them

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from all over the United States,

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many of them with family connections,

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and spend several weeks with them,

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going over the history
of the Second World War.

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One of the things that
we try to communicate,

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and I think these
ceremonies help with that,

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is that sometimes the United
States and its citizenry

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is summoned by a common objective,

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which effaces and which
wipes out all of the petty

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political differences that
we have from time to time.

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I always have the feeling when I am here

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that this is one of those
places and one of those moments.

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Who cannot be inspired by the legacy,

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the living legacy, of
those who we honor today?

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Let me mention just finally in passing,

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many people don't realize this,

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but veterans who fought in
battles like the Ardennes,

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the Battle of the Bulge, many of them

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were looking forward to a 15 day furlough

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in the United States on their
way to the Pacific for more.

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Think of that for a moment.
The ultimate sacrifice.

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In any case, welcome to all of you.

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It's an honor and a
privilege for all of us.

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We look forward
particularly to hearing from

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our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

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General Milley. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

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- Excellent.

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(applause)

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Thank you for your inspiring remarks.

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I am now privileged to
welcome to the podium

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our keynote speaker today,
General Mark Milley,

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the 20th Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, General Milley

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is the nation's highest
ranking military officer

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and the principal military advisor to

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the president, the secretary of defense,

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the National Security Council, Congress.

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Prior to becoming Chairman
on October 1st, 2019,

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he served as 39th Chief
of Staff of the U.S. Army.

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His father, Alexander Milley, served with

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the U.S. Marines in
the Battle of Iwo Jima.

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He was actually a Navy corpsman, which is

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the most dangerous job that
the military has to offer.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

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my honor to introduce
to you General Milley.

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(applause)

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- Well, it's deeply humbling
for me to be here today,

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and as you just heard, my
father served at Iwo Jima,

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so it's doubly humbling
for me to be here today.

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On 19 February 1945,

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three Marine divisions,

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about 70,000 or so United
States Marines and Navy corpsmen

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backed up by 400 ships,

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about a hundred more ships than are in

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the United States Navy today,

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made the assault landings on Iwo.

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And therein lied a campaign
that is the bloodiest campaign

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in American history, per square mile.

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As you heard a few minutes ago,

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Iwo Jima was only two miles by four miles,

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about seven or eight square miles.

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There were no civilians on
the island. It was defended by

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about 22,000 committed Japanese,

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Japanese Marines, in fact,
the butchers of Nanking,

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as my father relayed to me one day.

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And the assault divisions,
the 4th Marine Division

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on the right, the 5th
Marine Division of the left,

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and the 3rd Marine Division in reserve,

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all landed in the early
morning hours of the 19th.

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Preceding them, the last 66 days,

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Iwo Jima had a pre-assault fires

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that were unknown in military history.

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From 15 December 1944 until today, 1945,

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Army Air Corps and naval
gunfire pounded Iwo Jima

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with more ordinances than
any eight square miles

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of the earth's surface,
in military history.

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My father and those fellow
Marines and corpsmen

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that were hitting the beach were told

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there were no Japanese left alive.

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And they hit the beach, and they get in

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about 800 meters or so, and
they hit a trigger line.

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And the Japanese sprung
an engagement area.

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And then all hell broke loose.

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And they were pinned down on the beach,

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and they couldn't get the
Marines ashore to reinforce.

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And all the assault regiments
were just sitting there

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getting pounded. And then,
they began slugging it out,

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inch by inch, yard by
yard, for the next 36 days,

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At a cost of almost 7,000

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Marine lives and Navy corpsmen lives.

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And another 34,000 wounded in action.

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Almost 50% casualties were suffered

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on the island of Iwo Jima.

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And of the 22,000 Japanese,

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only a thousand ever
lived to talk about it.

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I had an opportunity to
go to Iwo Jima last year

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with my Japanese counterpart,

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the Japanese Chief of Staff of the Army.

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And it's an incredibly humbling experience

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just to walk through that island.

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And I walked the beach
that my father landed on,

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Blue Beach I, to the far right,

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thousand or 1,500 meters or so

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from Mount Suribachi and walked through

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the Japanese bunkers and
just began to imagine

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what hell on earth was
like. And that was Iwo Jima.

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It's an unbelievable battle.

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It's an unbelievable battle

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in an entire war of unbelievable battles.

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Today we have a veteran
of the Philippines,

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we have a veteran of Iwo Jima,

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and we have a veteran of
the Battle of the Bulge,

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who was with the 82nd at Saint Vith.

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What we don't have are
veterans of World War I.

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Between 1914 and 1945,

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150 million people around the world

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were slaughtered in the conduct of war.

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While my father, in World
War II, hit the beach at

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Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima,

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there were many others in
other parts of the world,

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in Italy, at Normandy,
in the Eastern Front,

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that were also fighting.

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In fact, in June 1944,

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my father hit the beach at Saipan with

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the 4th Marine Division,

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and his brother was at Normandy

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on the other side of the world.

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It's an incredible tale of
valor, from 1914 to 1945,

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the world was engaged in
two of the biggest wars

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that have ever been fought
in the history of humanity.

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But they fought for something.

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And they fought for a better peace.

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So when 1945 came around,
it was that generation,

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the Greatest Generation,
who bequeathed to you and I

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a set of freedoms, and bequeathed
to you and I a world order

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that has held good for
almost a hundred years now.

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We're in our 75th year
of no great power war.

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Seventy-five years. To my knowledge,

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that's only been done twice
before in human history.

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One was from 1648 to the
middle of the 1700s or so,

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when there was no continental-wide

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great power war on the
continent of Europe.

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And then the Napoleonic Wars happened.

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And then after the Napoleonic Wars,

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they put in the Concert of Europe.

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And that held from 1815 to 1914.

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Then the world broke
down into World War I.

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And then we went through 1914 to 1945.

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And in 1945, the people
that were in power,

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the generals of the day, the politicians,

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the presidents, the queens and the kings

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said we can never do that again.

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We can never sacrifice
150 million people again.

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And so they put in a
system that has maintained

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great power peace for the last 75 years.

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And that is what my mother, my father,

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that's what these three veterans,

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that's what your family
members all fought for.

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And you hear today words like
"great power competition."

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You hear today a rise of China.

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You hear today about an aggressive Russia.

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It is incumbent upon all of us

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to make sure that great
power competition of today

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stays at great power competition
and great power peace

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and doesn't, yet again,
turn into great power war.

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I had an opportunity on the sixth of June

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this past year, to go to the
75th reunion at Normandy.

19:52.580 --> 19:55.580
And I was talking to several
of the veterans as I was today,

19:56.540 --> 19:59.630
and I leaned over to one of
them who was in a wheelchair,

19:59.630 --> 20:04.600
and I said to him, "What is
your lesson from World War II?

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What is your great lesson here for..."

20:06.350 --> 20:09.150
And I was then the Chief
of Staff for the U.S. Army.

20:09.150 --> 20:11.863
And he looked up at me,
and tears came to his eyes,

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and he said, "General,
never let it happen again.

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Never let it happen again."

20:20.050 --> 20:22.550
So, for those of us here today,

20:22.550 --> 20:26.590
on the 75th anniversary of
hitting the beach at Iwo Jima,

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let us resolve once again to
never let it happen again.

20:31.150 --> 20:34.410
Let us resolve that we're
not gonna ever have another

20:34.410 --> 20:39.050
great power war, because the
slaughter that it involves

20:39.050 --> 20:42.560
is beyond the imagination.
It's beyond the pale.

20:42.560 --> 20:45.420
And I, as the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff

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and every soldier, sailor, airman, marine,

20:47.790 --> 20:51.080
and coastguardsman, all 2.3 million of us

20:51.080 --> 20:54.580
that wear the uniform
today, we are committed

20:54.580 --> 20:57.250
to preserve the Constitution,
the reason for which

20:57.250 --> 21:00.960
we wear the uniform, and to
maintain great power peace.

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Thank you, thank you all for being here.

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And thanks to our World War II veterans

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for granting us the gift
of freedom. Thank you.

21:07.591 --> 21:09.540
(applause)

21:09.540 --> 21:11.010
- Fantastic.

21:11.010 --> 21:12.927
- Thank you very much.

21:15.260 --> 21:18.380
- That's a fantastic speech.
You might be interested to know

21:18.380 --> 21:21.533
that he did not read it from
a teleprompter or his notes.

21:21.533 --> 21:23.020
This came out of his head.

21:23.020 --> 21:24.450
He's a very brilliant man known for

21:24.450 --> 21:29.110
his speaking ability and
his extraordinary intellect.

21:29.110 --> 21:33.310
So, we're going to begin
part of our ceremony today

21:33.310 --> 21:35.670
revolving around laying wreaths at

21:35.670 --> 21:37.363
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

21:38.890 --> 21:42.450
We will be placing these
at the Pacific arch.

21:42.450 --> 21:45.050
If you're a wreath-layer
it is time to come up here.

21:46.680 --> 21:50.050
It will honor the 110,000 U.S. Marines,

21:50.050 --> 21:53.640
U.S. soldiers, Navy corpsmen, Seabees,

21:53.640 --> 21:56.720
Army Air Force personnel, Army Air Force,

21:56.720 --> 21:58.857
and others who served
in and in remembrance of

21:58.857 --> 22:02.380
more than 26,000 killed or wounded

22:02.380 --> 22:04.073
during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

22:06.820 --> 22:07.993
They are not forgotten.

22:09.350 --> 22:10.490
We remember them.

22:13.534 --> 22:15.617
(coughs)

22:21.748 --> 22:25.331
(indistinct conversations)

22:31.140 --> 22:34.280
Presenting the wreath for
the United States of America

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will be Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff,

22:37.690 --> 22:38.893
General Mark Milley,

22:40.390 --> 22:42.973
World War II veteran Ira Rigor,

22:49.190 --> 22:51.310
Friends of the National
World War II Memorial

22:51.310 --> 22:54.856
the chairman, Josiah Bunting III,

22:54.856 --> 22:55.810
(sniffs)

22:55.810 --> 22:58.463
and Navy Chaplain Gary Thornton.

23:10.373 --> 23:12.660
Presenting the wreath for
the Friends of the National

23:12.660 --> 23:17.660
World War II Memorial are World
War II veteran, Harry Miller

23:19.850 --> 23:23.820
and World War II veteran
Constantine Rizopolous.

23:23.820 --> 23:27.810
Very Greek name. Beautiful
Greek name actually.

23:27.810 --> 23:30.670
And Friends of the National
World War II Memorial

23:30.670 --> 23:32.773
Vice Chairman Jane Droppa.

23:40.160 --> 23:45.160
Please prepare at this time,
we will soon be hearing "Taps"

23:46.610 --> 23:50.440
which will be played by
Gunnery Sergeant Amy McCabe

23:50.440 --> 23:52.140
of the United States Marine Corps.

24:02.748 --> 24:04.831
("Taps")

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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

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At this time, I will conclude the ceremony

25:10.300 --> 25:12.670
by saying thank you to
everyone who took part

25:12.670 --> 25:14.870
and who came out to see
us today. Thank you.