Remarks on Arrival at Belleville, Illinois

I want to tell you how very much we appreciate your very warm welcome as we arrive here for a meeting in St. Louis.

Are we in Illinois? I brought some very distinguished guests with me. Of course, first, Mrs. Nixon, and my daughter, Patricia.

Mrs. Nixon, incidentally, is going to be traveling next week to Peru where, as you know, they had a terrible earthquake where 40,000 people were killed. She is going to take down medical supplies that the people of America have contributed to the people of Peru.

So she is going with me to California, where I, of course, am going to spend a few days on some matters that have arisen that involve people there and people in other parts of this country.

Also, we have a couple of other distinguished guests: Senator George Murphy, of California, and Congressman Doc Hall, from Missouri.

If I could just say a word to all of you, first I know that in this crowd are primarily people who are with the Air Force. I want to thank you. I want to thank the men, the officers, who are in the Air Force, for the service you have rendered and are rendering to our country.

I want to thank you families, too. I know that sometimes there may be occasions when you wonder whether or not the Air Force career--if your husband is a career man--was the right one. I can tell you that it certainly is one that is serving the cause that we all waist and which, incidentally, in our country we can give great thanks for this fact: It is the cause of peace.

We are involved in a war. We are bringing that war to an end. And we are going to bring it to an end in a way that the younger brothers and the sons of those that have fought in Vietnam will not. have to fight, we hope, someplace else in the future. That is the kind of peace we want.

Also, speaking in very personal terms, I would like to say that I look back to the times when, many, many, many years ago in World War II, when my wife and I were married. We were married just before the war. This is before Tricia was born. Of course you can tell that by looking at her.

And I remember, too, the men that I met in the armed services. I was going to say the women, too, but that was not the case. I meant the men. There were many fine women, too, in the various women's service organizations.

I am always proud of having had the opportunity. I think it was an opportunity and a privilege to serve in the armed service of the United States. I hope all of you can be proud of this country and proud of serving your country in the way that you are.

Now, it happens only by coincidence that the outfit I was with in World War II was an outfit called SCAT. By SCAT, that means the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command that used to operate up through the Solomons.

It was one of those combined commands that existed so much in World War II. The top command was Marine. The ground officers and personnel were Navy. I happened to be one of those, a Navy operations officer. And the wings that flew--and they flew DC-3's up through the Solomons, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Vella Layella, Green Island, and the rest-were Army troop carrier squadrons, and that would be Air Force today, of course, and also Marine squadrons.

I am very happy and proud to be here at the command post for 100,000 Americans who serve in the Airlift Command. You can be very proud of the work that you have done. I feel, really, very close to you in a way, because I rather felt I was in that kind of a command during the period of 3 1/2 years that I was in the armed services.

Finally, one other point, I notice so many young people here, in fact some very young. Some are in high school, some in grade school, some are not even in school yet and some are in college.

I just want you to know that as we look at this great country of ours, and it is a great country, we have many problems. There are problems at home and problems abroad.

I want you to know I have traveled to virtually every country of the world and I have met many wonderful people abroad and I urge all of you who have the opportunity to also go, if you can some day, to visit other countries.

But I want you to know that what really distinguishes America is this: We have problems but America has the capacity, because of our strength, our economic strength, because in terms of income the average American earns twice as much as the people in any other country in the world, because of that we are able to do something about those problems.

Let me just say this: There are things wrong with this country, but the great thing about America is that we have the capacity to make those things right. This is a good country and don't you ever forget it.

Thank you very much.