 United States of America, our highest award, the middle of the American Irish Historical Society. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Dr. Kale, I thank you and all those who are responsible for this great honor. And I want to say that I happen to know that there is one among us here who has known also today the same joy and even greater that possible that I could feel. And that is Dr. Kale himself, who this morning was presented by Cardinals Cook on behalf of the Pope, the Grand Cross Pro-Merit-O-Merit-O-Sensei. He is the first American to ever receive this award. Dr. Eminus, the other clergy here at the head table, the other distinguished guests, and one in particular that I might pick out and mention, Teddy Gleason of the International Longshoremen's Association. And I mention him because on Sunday, he is going to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of his 39th birthday. Teddy, I found that for some time, that makes it much easier to greet each one of these annual occasions. But I do thank you very much. You know, there is the legend in Ireland of the happy Colleen of Ballas Soder, who lived gaily among the wee people, the tiny people for seven years. And then when she came home, discovered that she had no toes, she had danced them off. I feel happy enough when I get home tonight, I'm going to count mine. Nancy is sorry that she couldn't be here, and so am I. She sent her warm regards and her regrets. Unfortunately, in the last trip into town, she picked up the bug. Now I'm happy to say that's not a situation for me like the two sons of Ireland who were in the pub one evening, and one asked the other about his wife. And he said, oh, she's terribly sick. She says, terribly ill. And the other one says, oh, I'm sorry to hear that. But he said, is there any danger? Oh, and he said, no. She's too weak to be dangerous anymore. A writer for the Irish press who was based in Washington, a correspondent for the press there, stated me the other day that, or stated the other day about me, that I have only recently developed a pride in my Irish heritage or background and that up till now I've had an apathy about it. Well, let me correct the record. That is not so. I have been troubled until fairly recently about a lack of knowledge about my father's history. My father was orphaned at age six. He knew very, very little about his family history. And so I grew up knowing nothing more beyond him than an old photograph, a single photo that he had of his mother and father and no knowledge of that family history. But somehow a funny thing happened to me on the way to Washington. When I changed my line of work about a year ago, it seemed that I became of a certain interest to people in Ireland who very kindly began to fill me in. And so I have learned that my great grandfather took off from the village of Ballyporeen in County Tipperary to come to America. And that isn't the limit to all that I have learned about that. Some years ago, when I was just beginning in Hollywood in the motion picture business, I had been sentenced for the few years I'd been there to movies that the studio didn't want good, it wanted them Thursday. And then came that opportunity that every actor asks for or hopes for. And that was a picture that was going to be made in the biography of the late Knute Rockney and the great immortal coach of Notre Dame. Pat O'Brien was to play Rockney. And there was a part in there that from my own experience as a sports announcer I had long dreamed of, the part of George Gip. And generously, Pat O'Brien, who was then a star at the studio, held out his hand to a young aspiring actor. And I played Gip. Pat playing Rockney, he himself will say, was the high point of his theatrical career. My playing the Gip opened the door to stardom and a better kind of picture. I've been asked at times, what's it like to see yourself in the old movies, the reruns on TV? It's like looking at a son you never knew you had. But I found out in learning about my own heritage going back to Bally Purine, that believe it or not, what a small world it is, Pat O'Brien's family came from Bally Purine. But I've been filled in much more since. An historian has informed me that our family was one of the four tribes of terror. And that from the year 200 to about 900 AD, they defended the only pass through the Slyvebloom Mountains. They held it for all those centuries and adopted the motto, the hills forever. And that too is strange, because for the better part of nine months now, I've been saying much the same thing only in the singular, the hill forever. Capital hill that is. I do remember my father telling me once, and I was this boy about, and with great pride, he said to me, the Irish are the only people in the country in America that built the jails and then filled them. And I was a little perturbed even then at that tender age because at the sound of pride in his voice, and from the way I'd been raised, I couldn't quite understand why that was something to be proud of until I then later learned, which he had never explained to me, that he was referring to the fact that the overwhelming majority of men wearing the blue of the police department in America were of Irish descent. You know, those weren't the only jobs that were open to the Irish. Back in the high day of Vaudeville, long before sound pictures drove it out, there were very popular in this country, comedians who would reach great stardom in Vaudeville with a broad German accent. German comedians coming on Aachen Himmelsiede. What is little known in show business is that almost without exception, they were Irish. Now their wit and humor that made them comedians, they came by naturally and honestly. I was on a mission to England for our government some 10 years ago. I said, I should say to Europe, to several countries, and finally wound up in the last country was Ireland. And on the last day in Ireland, I was taken to casual rock. I didn't know at that time that it's only 25 miles from Ballypourine. But I do know that the young Irish guide who was showing us around the ruins of the ancient cathedral there on the rock, finally took us to the little cemetery. And we walked with great interest and looked at those ancient tombstones and the inscriptions. And then we came to one. And the inscriptions said, remember me as you pass by, for as you are, so once was I. But as I am, you too will be, so be content to follow me. And that was too much for the Irish wit and humor of someone who came after. Because underneath was scratched. To follow you, I am content. I wish I knew which way you went. But the Irish, like many, a great many of the people and like my grandfather, great grandfather, were driven to the new world by famine and by tragedies of other kinds. The Irish, they built the railroads, they opened the west wearing the blue and gold of the United States Cavalry. There was John L. Sullivan, the heavyweight champion of the world, writers like Eugene O'Neill, clergy like Cardinal Cook, and even physicians to the Pope like Dr. Cahill. And it goes all the way back in our history. George Washington said, when our friendless standard was first unfurled, who were the strangers who first mustered around our staff? And when it reeled in the fight, who more bravely sustained it than Aaron's generous sons? And a century and a half later, who else than George M. Cohan would write of the grand old flag, the stars and stripes, and Yankee Doodle Dandy with a line, I'm a real, live nephew of my uncle Sam. There must have been a divine plan that brought to this blessed land people from every corner of the earth. And here, those people kept their love for the land of their origin at the same time that they pledged their love and loyalty to this new land, this great melting pot. They worked for it, they fought for it, and yes, they died for it, and none more bravely than Aaron's generous sons. Tragedy, as I said very often, was the impetus that sent many to America. Today, as has been said here already tonight, there is tragedy again in the Emerald Isle. The cardinal prayed, and his holiness, the Pope, pled for peace when he visited Ireland. The, I think we all should pray that responsible leaders on both sides and the governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland can bring peace to that beautiful isle once again. And once again, we can join John Locke in saying, oh Ireland, isn't it grand you look like a bride in her rich adornment? And with all the pent up love in my heart, I bid you top of the morning. No, I have no apathy, no feeling at all. I am just so grateful that among the other things that happened when I was allowed to move into public housing, I had a chance finally to learn of the very rich heritage that my father had left me. And I can only say once again, with heartfelt thanks, I wear this and take it home. And with a feeling of great honor and say something that I know to all of you is as familiar as top of the morning or anything else. And that is, may the road rise beneath your feet, the sunshine warm upon your face and the wind always be always at your back. And may God, until we meet again, hold you in the hollow of his hand. Thank you.