ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

Memorial Day Brings Remembrance, Passings

Aired May 29, 2000 - 10:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And this is a holiday that is marked with celebrations, but it is rooted in the most somber intent. Memorial Day first took form during the Civil War, and now, with the passage of more than 130 years and numerous wars and conflicts, the theme remains unchanged: honoring the war dead.

Next hour, President Clinton will perform a Memorial Day custom: he will lay the presidential wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Mr. Clinton is also asking Americans to take part in a national moment of remembrance this afternoon, at 3:00 in each time zone. Americans are asked to pause for a minute to reflect on the contributions made by those who died in battle.

And yet another memorial takes shape outside of Washington. A portion of the D-Day memorial will be unveiled today in Bedford, Virginia; a small town outside Roanoke that suffered the most D-Day casualties per capita, of any U.S. community. More than half of Bedford's servicemen died in the first 15 minutes of the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Both in size and symbolism, Arlington National Cemetery is the traditional backdrop for Memorial Day services. Next hour, President Clinton will oversee the ceremonies for the final time of his presidency.

Our Kate Snow is there, and she joins us now with the latest.

Kate, good morning.

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we're standing in front of one of the corners here at Arlington National Cemetery. Just one corner behind me, of the 600 acres of this cemetery. Behind me here, veterans from most of the major wars of the 20th century: World War I, World War II, Vietnam and Korea; all represented in this plot just right behind me here. They are some of the more than 250,000 people buried here at Arlington National Cemetery. Each one of them equally recognized on this Memorial Day.

Last Thursday night, about 900 members of the U.S. Infantry -- 3rd. U.S. Infantry, known as the old guard of the Army, they came out here and spent about three hours putting a tiny American flag in front of each one of the grave sites here, each headstone. They may vary in size. Some of the headstones in parts of this cemetery are much larger than the typical smaller, modest headstones that you see behind me here. But they all have equal flags on this day, they all have equal representation and equal remembrance.

A crowd gathering here, at Arlington National Cemetery, now because, as you mentioned, in an hour President Clinton is due here for the annual laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. He is going to take part in that ceremony and then deliver his annual Memorial Day address. Staff Sergeant Kevin Grubel, with the Army, will be handing the wreath to President Clinton.

He says that he wanted to take part in the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAFF SGT. KEVIN GRUBEL: Be presented by the president of the of the United States, on behalf of the American people, to honor the Unknowns that have been killed in action and also those veterans that sacrificed their lives and, you know, those that are still living . And I just think it's a great honor to be able to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: The gates opened here a short time ago. We can see the public moving in now. Many veterans here to honor the dead and also to hear what the president will have to say.

Kate Snow. CNN, live, Arlington National Cemetery.

KAGAN: Kate, thank you.

This day of reflection also is shared with a look ahead. In less than a month, commemoration ceremonies will the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. Today, crowds are visiting the memorial dedicated to those who died in that conflict.

Our Bruce Morton is at the site and he has more for us.

Bruce, good morning once again.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, again, Daryn.

This memorial, like the war which it honors, was born in controversy. Maybe that's the fate of memorials, the Vietnam wall was controversial when it first went up. People objected here to the figures, they thought the statues were wrong, were too warlike, we too depressing. But like the Vietnam wall, people have come to accept this now. Maybe the most interesting part -- you'll notice that the air traffic at Reagan National is normal in spite of the Memorial Day holiday.

Maybe the most interesting part of this is the wall. And what they did was take a lot of still photographs from the National Archives and through a computer process, which I am not nearly smart enough to explain, using lasers they, in effect, etched those pictures onto the wall. So you see all these faces from the war. They wanted, they said, to show a lot of people who where in support roles, the ratio behind the lines, to combat troops in that war was something like eight to one. So there they are. The war itself was controversial, of course: 37,000 Americans, roughly, died in it. President Harry Truman, who committed the United States forces, was mired in controversy, chose not to run again in 1952. Dwight Eisenhower did run, saying: I will go to Korea and end the war. It did end, but in an armistice. There has never yet, been a formal peace settlement. And the DMZ is still manned, of course, by armed forces of both sides -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Bruce Morton, in Washington, thank you.

And now we go back to a work in progress. The D-Day Memorial being built in Bedford, Virginia. That's a small town that lost 19 of its 35 servicemen in the first minutes of the invasion. One person describes it as a town losing a generation of its young men. Work has been completed on some of the $12 million memorial. It will be dedicated next June, on the 57th anniversary of D-Day.

More than 6,600 Americans were killed in the Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe during World War II. The servicemen stormed the French beaches under a vicious assault from German guns and cannons that were mounted on the cliffs.

Those who survived the battlefields of World War II are surrendering to a more relentless enemy: time. The death rate of World War II veterans is spiraling, and the U.S. military is fighting a losing battle to provide the grave-side honors.

CNN's Beth Nissen has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These soldiers are on a high priority military mission, giving the honors due to a veteran at his funeral. It is a mission every branch of the U.S. military is straining to carry out, as the World War II generation ages. Elderly veterans of that war are dying at the rate of more than 1,000 a day.

STAFF SGT. DIETRICH CHAPPLE, U.S. ARMY: People are passing very rapidly. We can't provide buglers at every funeral. A lot of the funerals, we can't provide the team to fold the flag.

NISSEN: When military funeral honors are requested, the military must, by law, send the minimum of two service members. At least one of them from the same branch of the military as the deceased, to fold and present the flag and play "Taps." If there aren't enough personnel on base to send, reservists and the National Guard can be called to fill in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much for coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's no problem.

NISSEN: This Army team is from Fort Stewart, Georgia, which struggles to cover 50 funerals a month, in a territory that extends to South Florida, 800 miles away. Already this year, requests for military funeral honors here are 40 percent higher than last year. Fort Stewart has only five trumpet players. Enough to send only a quarter of funerals handled by the base, for the rest, a high quality recording of "Taps" is sent instead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know the priority is to find a bugler. But if necessary, they'll use the recording. The tone, the honor is just the same.

NISSEN: Requests for even such basic military funeral honors are expected to rise sharply in the next few years as the 5 million living veterans of World War II age into their 80s.

COL. BILL BETSON, GARRISON CMDR., FT. STEWART: It is a challenge. But we believe we have a duty and a sacred obligation to meet that challenge.

NISSEN: And to convey the thanks of a grateful nation to the legions who have served.

Beth Nissen, CNN, Jacksonville, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.