Remarks by U.S. Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney Araw ng Kagitigtingan, Heroes’ Day Commemoration Mt. Samat Shrine, Bata’an Province

April 9, 2008

 

(As delivered)

 

Your Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines; my colleague, Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura; to the Secretary of National Defense, the Honorable Gilberto Teodoro; to the leadership of the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police; to members of the Philippine Senate; the House of Representatives: magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.  Magandang umaga, mga beterano.  A very pleasant good morning to all of you and especially to our beloved veterans.

 

It is a great honor to be with you today as we celebrate the annual event up here at Mt. Samat in beautiful Bataan.  We come here to remember heroes – men, women, and civilians – ordinary people who became extraordinary when tested.  When their faith and courage were tested, they stood strong.  They’ve shown us how to be heroes.  Many of us feel a very special connection to Mt. Samat, whether you fought here or whether, like me, you are a son or daughter of a World War II veteran, or a granddaughter or a grandson of a World War II veteran, or whether you’ve read the books and seen the movies.  You know that war was terrible, that out of this terribleness came very great people, very extraordinary heroes.  Some schoolboys fought; some a very, very long way from home – but all united by their courage and their sense of sacrifice.

 

And the lessons we all take from that, is that we all have the chance to be heroes.  That you don’t need – and I hope you will never suffer – what they suffered here so many decades ago.  But you can be a hero.  An ordinary person can be extraordinary in your own life when you teach a child, when you teach someone to read, when you mentor an out-of-work youth, when you give back to your community.  Each of us has so many times in our lives when we can be heroes, and the lesson we learn from the veterans who fought here is that we all can be heroes and we should take the chance when it’s offered to us, to show courage and sacrifice for the good of our family, our community, and our nation. 

 

I thank all of you who are here.  Those of us who have learned the story from our fathers and mothers, we have admired you more than you’ll ever know – you who are our heroes, and you will always be our heroes.  And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  Mabuhay ang mga bayani!  Congratulations to the courageous heroes that we see in front of us.  Thank you.  Maraming salamat!

 

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