Veterans' Day 2011

Address

Massachusetts National Veterans’ Cemetery

Veterans’ Day

November 11, 2011

By Jackson Blair

Selectman of Winchendon

On a day set aside to both remember and say thanks to our veterans, living and dead, it is sometimes helpful to focus on a real person, one who lived the kind of sacrificial life about which we are talking today. When I had the privilege of addressing you last year I focused on my own uncle who had served as a medic on Normandy Beach.

Today I have chosen former United States Senator and presidential candidate Robert Dole to highlight what we are all feeling and to serve as an example of the commitment, stick-to-it attitude, life of quiet service that so often typifies the veterans we honor.

Because of his prominence as a presidential candidate, we all know Bob Dole was a wounded veteran. As he aged and faded from the public spotlight how many of us know today what kind of life Bob Dole is living? How many know how often he has continued to need care and treatment? How many of us know how many months and years he has resided at Walter Reade hospital.

Just as we really don’t know about Bob Dole, there are many faceless, forgotten people who never achieved his fame who suffer not just at the time of their military service, but throughout their lives, from the wounds physical and mental. As General MacArthur said: many soldiers just quietly fade away. That is why each year we gather to say a collective “thank you” and to stop in our hectic lives to remember their service and sacrifice.

We look at the graves behind me, those straight lines and white markers, the flags flying in the wind and the sun reflecting off the rifles and helmuts of the honor guard, and we remember the dead.

We watch the parade and we applaud the veterans who march.

We must remember those who continue to suffer, surmount challenges, and live their lives to the fullest in the country they love.

Let us focus now on Bob Dole and remeber that he is an example of so many others who deserve our continued concern. The following is a compilation of published information on the life of Bob Dole:

In 1942, Dole joined the United States Army's Enlisted Reserve Corps to fight in World War II. Dole became a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division.
In April 1945, while engaged in combat near Castel d'Aiano in the Apennine mountains southwest of Bologna, Italy, Dole was hit by German machine gun fire in his upper right back and his right arm was also badly injured. As Lee Sandlin describes, when fellow soldiers saw the extent of his injuries all they thought they could do was to "give him the largest dose of morphine they dared and write an 'M' for 'morphine' on his forehead in his own blood, so that nobody else who found him would give him a second, fatal dose."^[8] Dole had to wait nine hours on the battlefield before being taken to the 15th Evacuation Hospital, where he began a recovery that would take until 1948 at Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan (where Dole met future fellow politicians Daniel Inouye and Philip Hart). His right arm was paralyzed; Dole often carried a pen in his right hand to signal that he could not shake hands with that arm.
The hospital where Dole recovered from his wounds, the former Battle Creek Sanitarium, is now named Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in honor of three patients who became United States Senators: Dole, Philip Hart and Daniel Inouye.
Dole was three times decorated for heroism, receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries, and the Bronze Star with combat "V" for valor for his attempt to assist a downed radio man.

In 2001, Dole, at age 77, was treated successfully for an abdominal aortic aneurysm by vascular surgeon Kenneth Ouriel. Dr. Ouriel said Dole "maintained his sense of humor throughout his care."^[

In December 2004, he had a hip-replacement operation, which required him to receive blood thinners. One month after the surgery it was determined that Dole was bleeding inside his head. He spent 40 days at Walter Reed, and upon release his "good" arm, the left, was of limited use. Dole told a reporter that he needed help to handle the simplest of tasks, since both of his arms are injured. Dole undergoes physical therapy for his left shoulder once a week, but doctors have told him that he might not regain total use of his left arm. In 2009, he was hospitalized for an elevated heart rate and sores on his leg for which he underwent a successful skin graft procedure. In February 2010, he was hospitalized for pneumonia after undergoing knee surgery. He spent 10 months at Walter Reed, recovering from the surgery and experienced 3 bouts with pneumonia. Dole was released from the hospital in November 2010. However, in January 2011, Dole was readmitted to Walter Reed Hospital and spent about six days there, being treated for a fever as well as a minor infection.
Bob Dole has spent a lot of his years in military hospitals. You don’t hear about it. He seeks no sympathy. He just soldiers on, quietly and effectively. Most of the rest of his life he has been in the service of his country.
Dole also was responsible for a large amount of funds raised for the U.S. National World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.
On June 28, 2004, Dole was named 'Shining Star of Perseverance'
On September 18, 2004, Dole offered the inaugural lecture to dedicate the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service at which Dole chronicled his life as a public servant as well as discussed the importance of public service in terms of defense, civil rights, the economy, and in daily life. Typical of his patriotism and sense of fairness he made this inaugural lecture at the school named for the man who defeated him in the presidential election.^[20]
In 2007, Dole joined fellow former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, and George Mitchell to found the Bipartisan Policy Center, a non-profit think tank that works to develop policies suitable for bipartisan support.^[21]
That same year, President George W. Bush appointed Dole and Donna Shalala co-chairs of a commission to investigate problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.^[2]

This country has thousands of “Bob Doles,” men and women who serve their country, risk their lives, handle adversity and live lives of continued dedication and patriotism. Some of them are buried behind me in this beautiful spot set aside to honor those who have honored all of us.

We have been given a life of service by Bob Dole, a simple son of Kansas. And we have been given many lives of similar service by so many unknown veterans who returned maimed to the land they loved and dug in, pitched in, and lived important and sometimes anonymous lives.

While the tombs of the Unknown Soldiers remind us every day of the debt we owe, it also helps us to put a face on the service and to acknowledge specific men and women and their contributions. Bob Dole is the face I chose today, the poster boy for everything returning veterans have given to keep our country great.

The veterans who served thought their country was worth it.

The veterans who died thought their country and way of life was worth it.

It is our responsibility to steward the ship of state to ensure that these sacrifices continue to be “worth it.”

All gave much.

Some gave all.

May God bless the veterans and May God bless America.