1980年退伍军人管理局局长马克斯·克莱兰在退伍军人纪念日的演讲由刀豆文库小编整理，希望给你工作、学习、生活带来方便，猜你可能喜欢“退伍军人展风采演讲稿”。
1980年退伍军人管理局局长马克斯·克莱兰演讲
1980年11月11日 弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿国家公墓
“他们一起做出了牺牲，为这些牺牲他们分别得到了报偿；因为他们每个人得到的赞赏不会变旧，所有坟冢中——我说的不是埋葬他们遗体的坟冢，而是他们荣耀所在地，最崇高的总是得到赞颂，在每个合适的场合用言语和行动给予的赞颂。因为整个世界是名人的坟冢；他们不仅在自己的国家以碑柱和碑文的形式得到纪念，在国外也有他们的无字纪念碑，这个纪念碑不是用石头雕刻的，而是在所有人们的心中。”
这些动人的文字是2500年前希腊历史学家修昔底德在伯利克里葬礼演讲中为伯罗奔尼撒战争中牺牲的英雄们写下的颂词。
但是这些话对1980年的退伍军人纪念日也非常切题，这次纪念日主题是：“一个感激的国家永远铭记。”因为除了参加这个国家仪式，这个仪式表明感激的人民的确没有忘记，对于他们的服役和牺牲，我们还在心中和脑海中建起向所有美国退伍军人表达爱、自豪和感激的纪念碑——不论这些退伍军人仍然在世还是已经去世。
在退伍军人纪念日，我们公开承认和宣布正是因为我们的退伍军人，美国成为并且仍然是一个上帝庇护下的自由国度。我们承认——正如第16届美国总统亚伯拉罕·林肯所指出的——美国人民对我们的退伍军人有着特殊的义务。
请大家回忆林肯在第二次就职演讲中的话：
“对任何人不怀恶意；对一切人宽大仁爱；坚持正义，因为上帝使我们懂得正义；让我们继续努力去完成我们正在从事的事业，包扎我们国家的伤口；关心那些肩负战斗任务的人，照顾他们的遗孀孤儿，去做能在我们自己中间和与一切国家缔造公正持久和平的一切事业。”
等一会我要讲我们退伍军人从退伍军人事务部那里得到的看护的具体细节。首先，我想提醒大家林肯在很像今天的11月的一天所做简短演讲中给大家的另外一个指令，我想那是在宾夕法尼亚州一处墓地和旧时战场上所做的演讲。今天，值得特殊赞扬的上百万的美国战争退伍军人不仅接受了这个指令，他们还为此献出了生命或者数年的岁月来落实这个指令。
我肯定，大家记得以下的话来自林肯的葛底斯堡演讲：
我们相聚在这场战争的一个伟大战场上„„我们来到这里把这战场的一部分奉献给那些为国家生存而捐躯的人们，作为他们最后的安息之所。我们这样做是完全适合的、恰当的。
但是，从更高的意义上说，我们是不能奉献，不能圣化，也不能神化这片土地的，因为那些曾经在这里战斗过的人们，活着的和死去的人们，已经圣化了这片土地，他们所做的远非我们的微薄之力所能扬抑。
这个世界不大会注意也不会长久记得我们今天在这里所说的话，但是，它永远不会忘记勇士们在这里所做的事。
毋宁说，我们活着的人，应该献身于留在我们面前的伟大任务：从这些光荣的死者身上汲取更多的献身精神，以完成他们精诚所至的事业；我们在此下定最大的决心，以不让死者白白牺牲；让这个国家在上帝的保佑下获得自由的新生；让这个民有、民治、民享的政府与世长存。”
退伍军人管理局成立于半个世纪以前，就是要给我们的退伍军人及其家属有意义、实实在在的帮助，是林肯在他第二次总统就职演说中让我们对他们进行关照。
我有幸领导退伍军人管理局，请允许我很快地介绍管理局给我们退伍军人及其家属提供的主要福利和服务。
首先，我想指出今天退伍军人管理局所服务的退伍军人及其受赡养者和遗属的数量是在这个局历史上最多的。针对这些受益人的协助项目的范围和种类也是前所未有的。
在今年的退伍军人日商，我们看到有着240,000多雇员的退伍军人管理局是整个联邦政府第二大用人单位。比我们雇用人员多的只有国防部。
退伍军人管理局今年，也就是1981财年的预算请求大约为220亿美元，这打破了我们局的记录，也是政府第五大预算项目。这次预算中要求为管理局医院和医疗护理支出最多的开支，高达60亿美元。
有了这些资金，退伍军人管理局今年就可以给120万退伍军人提供住院医疗，处理1750万次门诊，这两项总数也是创记录的。
今天，医药手术部也将：
把雇员人数扩大到190,000名，为历来最高；
支出1亿多美元用于退伍军人管理局医药和修复研究，更加强调脊髓损伤、整体康复和衰老等关键领域的研究；
为退伍军人管理局医疗中心培训10万多医生、牙医、护士和其他医护人员——这个数目也创下记录；
可能的话，加大力度并加快四年前批准的七个更新和一个新医疗中心的建设。
在相关的医疗领域，退伍军人管理局今年将继续优先支持越战时期退伍军人的再适应咨询项目，这个项目1979年投入运营，已经在50多个城市开设大约90家沿街退伍军人中心，越战时期的退伍军人可以在那里获得所需特殊帮助，不会遇到行政繁琐手续。
最后，在医疗领域，今年我们将更加强调退伍军人管理局酗酒及滥用毒品治疗项目，现在全国运营着100多个酗酒治疗中心和50个滥用毒品治疗中心。
为了全面起见，我们今年在退伍军人纪念日对退伍军人管理局给“那些肩负战斗任务的人，他们的遗孀孤儿”提供的关怀至少要确认管理局其他主要福利和服务项目。
例如，今年退伍军人管理局全部预算为220亿美元，近一半多将用于给近500万伤残退伍军人及其遗属的伤残和死亡补偿金及养老金。1980年10月1日起补偿金提高，标志着这些费用连续四年得到提高。这四次提高总计大约上涨40%。1979年1月1日，改进的针对需经济援助的非服役伤残退伍军人及其遗属的养老金项目生效实施，按照这个项目，养老金涨幅与社会保险涨幅挂钩，只要社会保险福利上涨，养老金就自动调整。今年6月1日，根据改进的养老金项目给30多万受益人支付的养老金增幅达14.3%。
最近几年，越战时期退伍军人和符合条件的现役军人参加当前《退伍军人权利法》教育培训项目一直在减少。然而，目前的《退伍军人权利法》是针对第二次世界大战、朝鲜冲突和越南时期退伍军人的三个项目中最成功的。
符合条件的越战时期退伍军人当中大约65%已经参加这个项目的培训，第二次世界大战退伍军人参加比例为50%，朝鲜冲突退伍军人参加比例大约为43.4%。接受大学层次培训的越战时期退伍军人近460万，比第二次世界大战和朝鲜冲突退伍军人中参加大学培训总人数的340万多出100万。
根据这三个《退伍军人权利法》，近1800万第二次世界大战、朝鲜冲突和越战时期退伍军人继续接受了教育和培训。这样，他们丰富了自己的生活，为自己和家人提高了生活标准。
除了《退伍军人权利法》，退伍军人管理局还给服役残疾退伍军人提供职业能力康复培训，给在军队服役时死亡或由于军事服役而完全和永久性残疾退伍军人的符合资格的儿女、遗孀和妻子提供教育资助。
对第二次世界大战、朝鲜冲突和越战时期上百万退伍军人而言，“一个感激的国家永远铭记”的证据就是他们的家，这是根据三个阶段的《退伍军人权利法》由退伍军人管理局担保的贷款帮助下购买的。累积下来，自从36年前开始实施这个项目以来，退伍军人管理局已经提供1080万笔购房贷款担保，价值超过1820亿美元。这个总数之外，将会增加大约
360,000笔贷款，价值近200亿美元，退伍军人管理局估计今年将进行担保。
对四百万多第一次世界大战、第二次世界大战和朝鲜冲突退伍军人而言，他们的国家通过政府的寿险保单来表达其感激，他们一直有力地保持这个做法。今年，这些保单的分红达到创纪录的5.66亿美元。
自从退伍军人管理局七年前从陆军部接管国家公墓体系，公墓的总面积增加一倍多，从原来的4000多英亩达到如今的9000英亩。潜在的墓地数量也增加一倍多，从200万多增加到440万。
在加利福尼亚、纽约、马萨诸塞、宾夕法尼亚和弗吉尼亚有五个新的大型国家公墓增加到这个体系。在加利福尼亚、纽约和马萨诸塞的墓地已经开放用以埋葬，宾夕法尼亚和弗吉尼亚的墓地计划于1982年开放。此外，退伍军人管理局已经在密歇根的Fort Custer和佐治亚的Fort Gillem为另外两个国家公墓选好址。
除了运营国家公墓体系，当然这涉及埋葬和对我们去世的退伍军人服役和牺牲相宜的墓地维护，退伍军人管理局的纪念事务部为其他墓地以及公墓的退伍军人墓地提供墓石和标识。这些墓石和标识又从另一种方式强调了一个“感激的国家永远铭记”的真实性，并且这个国家帮助你和我以及我们的美国同胞们缅怀这些爱国者。
我想引用卡特总统1980年退伍军人纪念日宣言的一句话来结束我的讲话。他的话提醒我们，我们必须给予他们应得的荣誉，“不仅要用特殊的仪式，不仅通过我们对退伍军人福利和服务的支持，也还要重新投身于确保他们帮助维护的和平以及保护的国家对未来世世代代美国而言是安全的。”
让我们想我们的退伍军人们致以他们真正想要的和应得的敬意。让我们离开这里时，内心下定决心要兑现总统以他们的名义要求我们完成的承诺。
谢谢大家。
Remarks by Max Cleland, Administrator of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Day National Ceremony
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
November 11, 1980
“The sacrifice which they collectively made was individually repaid to them;for they received again each one for himself a praise which grows not old, and the noblest of all sepulchers--I speak not of that in which their remains are laid, but of that in which their glory survives, and is proclaimed always and on every fitting occasion both in word and deed.For the whole earth is the sepulcher of famous men;not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.”
These moving words were written 25 centuries ago by the Greek historian Thucydides as a tribute in the Funeral Speech of Pericles to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War.But they are germane to Veterans Day 1980, with its theme: “A Grateful Nation Remembers.” For, in addition to participating in this national ceremony, which affirms that a grateful people do indeed remember, we have built in our hearts and minds a memorial of love and pride and gratitude to all of America's veterans--living and dead--for their service and sacrifice.On this Veterans Day, we publicly recognize and proclaim that America became and remains
a free nation under God because of our veterans.And we acknowledge--as did the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln--that the American people have a special obligation to our veterans.Recall these words of Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Addre:
”With malice toward none;with charity for all;with firmne in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in;to bind up the nation's wounds;to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.“
In a moment I want to addre some specifics of the care which our veterans are receiving from the Veterans Administration.First, however, I would remind you of another mandate given to us by Lincoln in a brief addre on a November day much like this, I imagine, at a cemetery and former battlefield in Pennsylvania.Tens of millions of America's war veterans to whom we pay deserved, special tribute today have not only accepted this mandate.They have given their lives or years of their lives to bring it to fruition.You remember, I am certain, these words from Lincoln's Gettysburg Addre: ”… We are met on a great battlefield….We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow this ground.The brave men living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion;that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom;and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the.earth.“
The Veterans Administration was established 50 years ago to translate into meaningful, truly helpful aistance to our veterans and their families the care to which Lincoln committed us in his Second Inaugural Addre.Permit me to highlight quickly the principal benefits and services provided our veterans and their families by the agency I am privileged to head.Let me begin by pointing out that today the VA is serving the greatest number of veterans and veterans' dependents and survivors in the agency's history.The scope and variety of aistance programs for these beneficiaries are also unprecedented.On this Veterans Day, we see that the VA, with more than 240,000 employees, has the second largest work force in the entire federal government.Only the Department of Defense has more employees.VA's record-high requested budget of approximately $22 billion for this year--Fiscal 1981--is the government's fifth largest.Highest-ever expenditures of $6 billion for VA hospital and medical care are called for in this budget.With this funding, the VA this year will provide inpatient hospital care for 1.2 million
veterans and handle upwards of 17.5 million outpatient visits, both record totals.This year the Department of Medicine and Surgery will also:
Expand its work force to an all-time high 190,000 employees;Spend more than $100 million for VA medical and prosthetics research, with added emphasis being given to research in such critical areas as spinal cord injury, total rehabilitation and aging;
Train more than 100,000 physicians, dentists, nurses and other health care personnel--a record number--in VA medical centers;
Intensify and accelerate where poible the construction of seven replacement and one new medical center authorized four years ago.On related medical fronts, the VA this year will continue to give priority support to the readjustment counseling program for Vietnam era veterans, which went into operation October 1, 1979, and which has opened about 90 storefront Vet Centers in more than 50 cities where Vietnam era veterans can obtain the special help they need without encountering bureaucratic red tape.Finally, in the area of health care, this year we will give increased emphasis to the VA's alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs, which now have more than 100 alcohol and 50 drug abuse treatment centers in operation throughout the country.To be complete, our examination on this Veterans Day of the VA care ”… for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan...“ must at least recognize the agency's other principal benefit and service programs.For example, this year more than half of the VA's entire budget of nearly $22 billion will go for disability and death compensation and pension payments to almost five million disabled veterans and survivors.Compensation benefits were increased effective October 1, 1980, marking the fourth consecutive year that these rates were raised.The four separate increases aggregate approximately 40 percent.Under the improved pension program for nonservice connected disabled veterans and survivors in financial need, which went into effect January 1, 1979, pension increases are tied to Social Security increases and become effective automatically at the same time as hikes in Social Security benefits.This past June 1, pension payments to more than 300,000 beneficiaries covered by the improved pension program were boosted 14.3 percent.Participation in the current GI Bill education and training program for Vietnam era veterans and eligible active duty military personnel has been declining in recent years.However, the current GI Bill has been the most succeful by far of the three programs for World War II, Korean Conflict and Vietnam era veterans.About 65 percent of eligible Vietnam era veterans has taken training under their program, compared with participation rates of 50 percent for World War II veterans and approximately 43.4 percent for Korean Conflict veterans.The nearly 4.6 million Vietnam era veterans who have trained at the college level exceed by more than one million the combined total of 3.4 million World War II and Korean Conflict veterans who trained at the college level.Under the three GI Bills, nearly 18 million World War II, Korean Conflict and Vietnam era veterans have furthered their education and training.In so doing, they have enriched their lives and raised the standard of living for themselves and their families.In addition to the GI Bill, the VA provides vocational rehabilitation training for service-connected disabled veterans and educational aistance for the eligible sons and daughters, widows and wives of veterans who died as a result of military service or are totally and permanently disabled due to military service.For millions of World War II, Korean Conflict and Vietnam era veterans, evidence that ”A Grateful Nation Remembers“ is their homes, purchased with the help of loans guaranteed by the VA under the three GI Bills.Cumulatively, since this program began 36 years ago, the VA has guaranteed more than 10.8 million home loans, valued in exce of $182 billion.To this total will be added about 360,000 loans, valued at approximately $20 billion, which the VA estimates it will guarantee this year.For more than four million World War I, World War II and Korean Conflict veterans, the gratitude of their nation finds expreion in the government life insurance policies which they have kept in force.This year's dividend on these policies is a record $566 million.Since the Veterans Administration took over jurisdiction of the National Cemetery System from the Department of the Army seven years ago, total acreage of the system has been more than doubled, increasing from more than 4,000 to more than 9,000 acres today.The number of potential gravesites has also been more than doubled, going from more than 2 million to 4.4 million.Five huge new national cemeteries in California, New York, Maachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia have been added to the System.The cemeteries in California, New York and Maachusetts are open for interments, with the cemeteries in Pennsylvania and Virginia scheduled to be open in 1982.Further, the VA has selected sites at Fort Custer, Michigan, and Fort Gillem, Georgia, for two more national cemeteries.In addition to operating the National Cemetery System, which, of course, involves interments and the maintenance of the cemeteries and graves in a manner befitting the service and sacrifice of our deceased veterans, the VA's Department of Memorial Affairs furnishes headstones and markers for veterans' graves in other cemeteries as well as national cemeteries.These headstones and markers underscore in yet one more way the truth that a Grateful Nation Remembers--and helps you and me and our fellow Americans remember these patriots.I want to close by quoting from President Carter's 1980 Veterans Day Proclamation.It reminds us that we must honor our veterans as they deserve, ”not only with special ceremonies, not only through our support of veterans' benefits and services, but also by committing ourselves anew to the task of ensuring that the freedoms they helped to preserve a
Let us pay our veterans the honor they truly want and deserve.Let us leave here resolved to meet the commitment the president asks of us on their behalf.Thank you.
