 console us now with the faith conviction that one day we will be with them again in your kingdom. They loved. May this memorial forever remind us of their care and responsibilities that transcend the individual due to duty, respect for our shipmates, for their families. All powerful Lord, we lift before you the families of those courageous younger them as only the Creator can comfort them. Lord, when instead to the groaning of our stricken souls and give us your peace, peace to the human today we know such great heartache. So we come to this place to seek the simple assurance of each other and the hope of but rarely thought of as great men or legends can we now truly say they are heroes and even if we can would not wrap which Americans had never heard of until their sons and brothers and fathers in later years in the South Pacific campaign American sailors would speak often of the bravery of the Marines they put on the beaches to fight and die but one hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned a small group of US ships had taken on a powerful enemy fleet and though five medals of honor were won and the enemy was turned back and Guadalcanal was saved the price was so high and the burden so heavy. Joseph, Madison and Albert the five supplements as we knew them then would not be coming home but while our sorrow was great in those days I cannot help but tell you this morning that in somehow right President Kennedy was when he spoke of the sacrifices asked by a hard and bitter peace and our own long twilight of this region it is a region that is a crossroads for three continents and the starting place for the oil that is the lifeblood of much of the world economy especially though we're a hostile power ever to dominate this strategic region and its resources it would become a choke point for freedom that of our allies and understood their obligations they knew the importance of their job so too I believe that most Americans today know the price of freedom in this uneasy world fills a man with a sense of worth like nothing else and he said if America is still the great beacon in dense gloom the promise to hundreds of million guard in the night the men of the USS Stark stood guard in the night one of our ambassadors paid them this tribute they were tough they were brave this that for all the lovely spring and summer days we will never share with them again for every thanksgiving and Christmas that will seem empty without them there will be other moments to history and wonder why is there such a place as America and how is it that such a precious gift is mine and we can answer them we can answer them by telling them of this day and those that we come to those who suffer and die so that the precious gift of America might always be ours the men of the USS Stark have protected us they have done their job on this earth and let us remember a final duty to understand that these men made themselves immortal by dying for something not just to us but to their God greater love than this has no man than to lay down his life for his friends and because God is love ladies and gentlemen you're in the tears that we've shed and still shed for them help them heavenly father to feel how deeply you