Thank you...

It's a pleasure to be here this afternoon.

We are all gathered here to honor our distinguished veterans of the Korean War. There were 82,000 South Carolinians who served from June 1950 to July 1953. Many of whom are here with us today.

Some others, who are not here today, made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us on the battlefields of Korea. 472 young South Carolinians.

We salute their service, we honor their love of country and we thank them for their commitment to freedom.

As young men and women they served so courageously. Many trading their blood for our freedom, so that we might not have to do the same...

The year 2000 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Korean War. While this war has yet to receive the attention that World War II or Vietnam has had, it is nonetheless a pivotal point in our nation’s history.

It marks the beginning of the Cold War and the beginning of the end of

communism. And although the Korean War is sometimes referred to as the forgotten war, we must never forget. We must always remember their sacrifice.

And there is no doubt that all of us in South Carolina owe these veterans a debt of gratitude – a sign of respect and a place for reflection...

These grounds and this monument serve as just such a place.

And though many of us are not soldiers, our duty is nevertheless very real and very pressing.

Because those men and women who fell beneath our star spangled banner did not fall so that we might allow their broad stripes and bright stars to become any less brilliant.

And it is incumbent upon the rest of us to honor their memory; to repay our vast debt to them in the only currency in which we can - that of remembrance...

And today is no different.

It is my hope that many South Carolina families who gather tonight to say grace over dinner will thank their God above for the brave men and women of the Korean War who "laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom"...

As a community it is critical that we all pay tribute to those men and women who rose to meet this call to arms, and never forget those whose fragile lives were lifted from our midst, but whose memory -- and whose legacy -- live on with us to endure forever...

The world is a better place because they lived-- and because you served...

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