UF00083771_00021.pdf

UF00083771_00021.txt

UF00083771_00021_pdf.txt

TROOP REVIEW
518T INFANTRY DIVISION
FORT STEWART, GEORGIA

AUGUST 12, 1961

General McMillan, Governor Hollings, Distinguished Guests,
Officers and men of the Fifty-first.

As a one-time Navy man I feel a little out of place here with the
infantry, but this discomfort is more than offset by the feeling of
pride and confidence I feel, not as 3 Governor, but as a citizen of
Florida and our great United States, as I observe the obvious competence
and the air of preparedness which is evident on every side.

I know that Governor Hollings shares my feeling that it is
especially appropriate that the heritage of our two great southern .
states should be combined in this Division. The Fifty-first ranks as
one or our nation's most distinguished military units, and the
accolades it has received have been earned fully and well by the men
who make it a smoothly meshed team.

All too often we in civilian life forget the contributions of the
members or the National Guard. At times such as this when you gather
for your yearly training we see newspaper pictures or truck convoys
carrying you to camp and an occasional line about the awards you have
earned through your proficiency. The rest or the year we overlook the h
you devote to the development of the proficiency you demonstrate here.

Your activities are in the finest of the unny tine traditions
we hold deer in our land. In a day when all too often we neglect the
precepts of the past on which the foundation of the past on which the
foundation of our democracy is laid and ignore the teachings of our
history, it is comforting to fine here modern minutemen, and, particularly
in this Division, men of the south as ready and willing to defend the
way of life we cherish as were our countrymen and ancestors of a hundred
years ago.

-2-

Individually and as a body you represent the finest quality of
that American tradition by which the private citizen gives of his time
and resources to prepare himself to bear arms if necessary to protect
the freedom of his nation against tyranny and aggression. The citizen-
soldier has always been the backbone of our American military
establishment and, even in this day of thermonuclear threats and circling
satellites, our strength and freedom depends to a very great degree on
your unselfish service.

It is unfortunate that the extent of your service is not more
widely recognized. Many of you, I know, serve in the National Guard
at considerable personal sacrifice. At least half of you standing here
are devoting time that would be your vacation from your regular
occupations. If the peeple of America in considering the importance of
civil defense training and preparedness would exhibit only a small
portion of the willingness to give of themselves for their own protection
and preservation that you exhibit in their behalf as you stand ready
to defend them from aggression, America's might and stature would rise
to heights never before achieved.

Here, and in these troubled times, we are preoccupied with your
importance to the nation, but as a governor concerned with the problems
which confront a fast growing state I would be gravely at fault if I
did not pay special attention to the home front contributions of the
Guard and its members. In time of disaster or emergency it is to you
that the chief executive of your state turns for assistance and effective
action. In Florida our Guard units were of invaluable service during
and following the holocaust created by hurricane Donna. The peeple
of those communities which were devastated by the storm will be
forever grateful.

-3-
Your contributions here are directly felt by your nation and
by your states. In Florida where a keen consciousness or the advances
of world communism is emphasized by the proximity of Cuba, we find it
especially comforting to know that you and others like you in the units

of the National Guard stand ready to perform your duties whenever and

wherever you are needed.

Rather than review you here today, I think it would be more
fitting if those of us for whom you stand ready to lay down your lives,
if need be, were to pass in review before you and in your honor, to
thereby assure you that the duties for which you have volunteered are
genuinely appreciated and most worthy.




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