Remarks at the Presentation of the Distinguished Service Medal to General Westmoreland.

General and Mrs. Westmoreland, Secretary Clifford, Secretary Resor, Secretary Nitze, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

This is for me an occasion of deep pride and very great satisfaction. We meet here this morning to honor a good American and a noble leader and to express to him the Nation's gratitude for a most difficult job well done.

I received a letter some time ago from a sergeant who had returned from his second tour of duty in Vietnam. He wrote me:

"I am not a glory hunter or a flag waver. I am a simple GI who happens to be proud of the fact that I wear the uniform of my country. I am not a great military strategist, but I do believe wholeheartedly that General Westmoreland is the best field commander we have got in the service today; and I know for a fact that the troops here in South Vietnam have a great respect for, and devotion to him."

History waits a long time to write its final assessment of any man's life. But that sergeant's estimate, and the sentiment that it expresses for thousands of men who have served under and who have fought under a great commander, will indeed weigh very heavily in the accounting.

I am sure that it is the judgment that General Westmoreland himself values above all other judgments.

His President's regard for him is already written large on the record of these past 5 years.

Freedom was in jeopardy--and a struggling people had been brought almost to their knees by aggression--when William Westmoreland was called to urgent duty.

His mission was to deny aggression its conquest. It was a mission simple enough to state. But to execute that mission, he had to fight the most complex war in all American history.

He brought to his hard task a rare combination of talents:

--battlefield brilliance,

--inspirational leadership,

--deep concern for his men,

-compassion for the suffering people to whose homes and villages the enemy had brought their terrible war, and

--always, an abiding awareness of the complex nature of the conflict.

Now, today, we are stirred by the hope of peace--a stable peace, in which the people of Southeast Asia can live out their lives and develop their institutions as they will.

But let us never forget that when peace comes, with freedom intact, it will come only because brave men stood firm on the battlefield in an hour of trial and anguishing doubt.

Today we honor them, all of them, as we applaud the accomplishments of their great leader. By his conduct, by his competence and his compassion, General Westmoreland epitomizes the finest qualities of the American fighting men that he commanded so long and commanded so well.

We are so glad to have him home with his fine family. We are especially happy that he has his lovely lady with him this morning in the White House. Mrs. Westmoreland spent many of those long, waiting months as an angel of mercy, caring for the wounded in the hospital wards of Saigon and Pearl Harbor and the Philippines.

Now, America will have General Westmoreland's counsel and leadership as Chief of Staff of the United States Army. He lengthens the shadow of greatness that is cast by other giants who have served before him in the highest office of the United States Army--men like Pershing and MacArthur, Marshall and Eisenhower, Bradley, Taylor, Wheeler, and Johnson. He follows in their tradition and our country, all of it, is richly blessed.

General and Mrs. Westmoreland--welcome home. And well done, sir.