 Prize for the arrival of the reviewing party and remain standing as honors are rendered Ladies and gentlemen the president and vice president of the United States Accompanied by Secretary Weinberger and General Vessie Ladies and gentlemen the honors for General Vessie will now be rendered. Please be seated. I'm the Casper W. Weinberger Secretary of Defense President Reagan will now present the Army Navy Marine and Air Force distinguished service medals On the occasion of the retirement of her husband from active status with the United States Army Mrs. Avis Vessie is presented with the Department of Army Certificate of Appreciation for her own unselfish faithful and devoted servants Her unfailing support and understanding helped to make possible her husband's lasting contribution to the nation Signed General John A. Wickham chief of staff of the United States Army Ladies and gentlemen General Vessie's former division commander from the 34th division General Charles L. Bolte will read the retirement orders Attention to orders headquarters Department of the Army special orders The following general officer of the Department of the Army is retired General John W. Vessie jr. Signed John A. Wickham jr. Chief of Staff Army, please ladies and gentlemen our commander-in-chief the president of the United States Thank you Jack, I hope you weren't embarrassed by that uniform with the World War one helmet The way I look at it You're almost old enough now to run for president Not as I say jack don't let the uniform upset you Because you know we enlisted in the reserves at about the same time and believe me You should have seen my uniform. I was in the horse cavalry Which brings up an important point You know ladies and gentlemen I recently disclosed that the real reason I ran for president was to bring back the horse cavalry and When I took office some people told me I was now the most powerful man in the world So now that you're retiring Jack, maybe you can tell me why every time I brought up the horse cavalry in the Oval Office You and Cap would just smile and nod and say yes, mr. President and nothing would happen Ladies and gentlemen, we're here today to honor and thank Jack Vessie for his years of service and dim devotion to America As you've heard Jack Vessie's military career has taken him right to the top four-star general vice chief of staff of the United States Army and ultimately chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and All of this after receiving a battlefield commission. I Know Jack was proud of every rank and command he held in each he performed with skill competence and devotion to duty and Yet for Jack Vessie, I suspect the title of which he was proudest was the first one he ever held during his 46 count him 46 years of military service The one he earned the day he joined the Minnesota National Guard The title that said Jack Vessie soldier General Vessie will be remembered for many things as a battlefield hero You've heard today about North Africa Monte Cassino and Zio and that grim night with the second battalion in Vietnam He'll be remembered as a man of patriotism and deep religious belief an officer who brought character and credit to every billet he ever held as A military leader who always spoke his mind to civilian authority Respectfully but candidly as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who presided over the restoration of America's military strength and power at a moment critical to the fate of freedom in his country's security In all these things he bore the marks of greatness But there's one accomplishment that is not there in Jack Vessie's personnel file Yet, it's an accomplishment that made the difference in the lives of so many GIs over so many years in so many places around the globe Jack Vessie always remembered the soldiers in the ranks He understood those soldiers are the backbone of any army. He noticed them spoke to them looked out for them Jack Vessie never forgot what it was like to be an enlisted man to be just a GI Mark J. Neal of Las Cruces, New Mexico remembers In January of 1975 He was a private at Fort Carson a member of the drill team there He said recently that after one drill team event he was in his residence doing dishes Before the volunteer army way back when Jack and I enlisted it seems to me they had another name for doing dishes Anyway, Mark Neal was told the commanding general wanted to see him He was scared of course But he found his meeting and friendly chat with the general something he would always remember After that Mark Neal followed General Vessie's career Hearing about his retirement. He wrote to him recently Quote this short meeting made a lasting impression on me It was amazing to me that you even knew I was on the premises even more amazing that you would want to meet me That moment of thoughtfulness for a lonely enlisted man back at Fort Carson Proved the truth of your reputation as a real soldiers general there were many Mark Neals in Jack Vessie's career and Jack Vessie made their lives a little easier a little less lonely and he made them a little prouder to wear their country's uniform and defend freedom Jack in the five years or so that I've been doing events like this. I've learned something about people like you a Career like yours combining as it does heroism Patriotism competence wisdom and kindness doesn't need elaboration from commanders in chief or presidents It speaks enough all by itself and today I'll let history be your valedictorian not me But what I can do today is thank you on behalf of your friends here today who've had the honor of working with you and On behalf of some others who couldn't be here all your fellow Americans If they had the chance to be here They would express their gratitude to you for making their lives and the lives of their children safer and more secure and Then there's that other group. I'm standing in for today. I know all of them would want to be remembered to you I'm talking of course about those young people who wore the uniform for Jack Vessie Had the privilege of having their own GI general So from all of us Jack your friends your fellow Americans, but especially the soldiers who stood a little taller because of you Thanks Thanks from a great and Grateful nation May God bless you and give you and abyss many more rich fruitful and happy years together And now ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you a great soldier a great general a great GI Jack Vessie Mr.. President You and the vice president do a great honor to the Armed Forces of the United States for participating in this ceremony today It's a great time to be in the Armed Forces of the United States It's a great day to be a soldier, and I hope we've got the recruiting NCOs out around the building here To sign them up after the ceremonies over and I want to say thanks to they to the troops who put it on it's the first Military operation that's taking place in the last three years and four months that I've not been cut in on concerning the ceremony itself. I've often said that I plan to build an anthology of Retirement and change of command speeches after I left the service and publish it as service humor And I don't really want to contribute to anybody else's anthology but As I went out this morning and took my jog from quarter six now along the edge of Arlington Cemetery I looked out over the city And I could see that The city was shrouded in sort of a pre-dawn haze out there And I couldn't help but think of the contrast with that view of Washington last night when they Washington Monument the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials the Capitol were sparkling in the in the harvest moon And I thought as I looked at that morning haze that Sometimes those symbols of the foundation of our liberty and freedom The principles upon which this nation was built the principles in our Constitution Sometimes get a little bit out of focus as they were this morning in that haze And we need to reflect on letting them get out of focus and reflect on the importance of protecting them So I thought well maybe out of risk being in somebody's anthology and say something Here at this ceremony There's sort of a natural proclivity for those the old guys leaving to Try and give one last lecture and I thought of that I thought maybe I should give a lecture to the American people thanking them for their support for the armed forces and the strong defense and Tell them that that support is needed In the days and years ahead that it can't be a one-shot operation I thought I might tell them what Winston Churchill said when he said to the British we can afford what we need for defense What we can't afford to say is that we can only afford what's convenient to provide I? Thought I might remind them that they won't wish away nuclear weapons They won't wish away the Soviet threat and that as you go to negotiate mr.. President with the Soviets You need a firm defense of the United States as a building block for those negotiations But I've said that before and the American people don't need that message so that shouldn't be the lecture Then I thought of talking about to those patriots who represent we the people in the Congress and thanking them for their support for a strong defense But I also wanted to tell them that I've listened to a number of their lectures over the last few years when I went over to testify And I thought I might tell them that they deserve to get maybe a 60-second lecture from me today And I thought I'd tell them that they dabbled too deeply into the defense budget And they get far too far down into the details and they get lost in them and sometimes they don't get their appropriations Builds out on time and the combination of those two probably waste more of the taxpayers money than they're trying to find and saving by Dabbling into the depths of the defense budget, and I thought of telling them respectfully of course that while they're fiddling around with the notion of Reorganizing the JCS that their own organization for dealing with defense sadly needs reform And I thought I might tell them in the language of the modern-day soldier to get their act together and Get on with two-year authorization bills and multi-year procurements and to clean up the committees and Stop dabbling in the details of the defense budget and judges went by broad objectives And whether or not we meet those objectives And Whether or not we do it with reasonable defense budget, but I've said all that before so it doesn't seem Doesn't seem that that lecture would be appropriate. I thought of lecturing my fellow members of the armed forces About the great responsibilities the people of this nation have laid on them and about how important their diligence their alertness their teamwork Their loyalty and perseverance is to the security of this nation today and in the years ahead And I thought of reminding them of the importance of being alert being ready being well-trained and do it with an eye for the Taxpayers dollar while they're doing it and to take care of the equipment and supplies that have been provided them But I've said all that before so there's no need for that lecture And I thought of all sorts of other lectures to my Russian counterpart about the foolishness of Attempting to start a war with the Western allies or to my allied counterparts about the importance of providing Adequate contributions to the common defense or to my fellow members of the JCS about keeping up the good work Lectures to defense contractors or to American workers about the importance of quality Work in the in the defense material upon which the lives of these people depend out here But I've given all those lectures, so there's no need to repeat them Then I thought of all the people I should thank maybe thanking the Lord For his help, but we do that every day Thank everybody in the military chain of command from you on down to the lowest private the one who just recruited Enlisted today For the help they've given me or thanking my old comrades like general bolting my World War two commander or Luxe Hobind who is the chief police of Hanau Germany who came all the way from Europe to this ceremony and helped me Get five of my stalwarts out of jail 30 years ago And I could thank all that the security people and the workers in the Pentagon who've made life easier But there are far too many people to name and I hope you all know that I'm grateful I thought of thanking a vis for Successfully packing the household goods for the 29th time and getting them shipped off without any help for me But or thanking the children for not mutinying for a dozen or so moves during the middle of the school year But they're all grown up and they know I'm grateful By the time I thought of all that my run was about over and I was back at the chairman's house and the first Glint of the morning sun sort of silhouetted through the haze the capital and those monuments down there And it occurred to me that the principles upon which this nation rests are firm That when you look out there at the capital you can't help but be reminded of the preamble to the Constitution and we the people and As I've gone past Arlington Cemetery and looked out over those gravestones there for all the other indispensable people that had preceded me I was reminded that defending the country over the past 209 years been steady business Steady work that will probably be continued to be in the years ahead And that I had a very good man replacing me So I put the flag out in front of quarter six there and put it in the bracket And I thought in addition to all the JCS problems and all the undone work. I was leaving Bill Crow I'd leave him that very good 20 buck bronze eagle that I bought for the end of that flagpole So it occurred to me that probably the best thing to do here this morning Was give to the my fellow citizens the same charge that st. Paul Gave to the Hebrew Christians when he said let us run with perseverance the race that has been set before us And then just if we say thanks Thanks troops Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the indoor portion of the ceremony Please follow the reviewing party to your right front outside for the ceremony is conclusion We request that you remain seated momentarily to allow the family time to join the reviewing party