Press Releases 08
Ambassador Garza Commemorates Memorial Day
 Statement
by Ambassador Antonio O. Garza
Mexico City, May 26, 2008 – Speaking at the annual Memorial
Day ceremony held today at the Mexico City National Cemetery,
Ambassador Garza urged Americans to remember those who gave
their lives in the service of their country and for universal
freedoms all people hold dear.
Memorial Day in the United States was officially proclaimed
by General John Logan on May 5, 1868, and was first observed
on May 30, 1868, when troops placed flowers on the graves
of fallen Union and Confederate soldiers in Arlington National
Cemetery in Virginia. It is observed annually throughout the
United States on the last Monday in May.
Please see the Ambassador’s full remarks below:
As always, I’m honored to be in the company of current and
former members of the profession of arms from the U.S. as
well as those who have come from other Diplomatic Missions
to join us today in remembering those who have laid down their
lives in service to their country.
We honor them today, because it is right and just to remember
and pay tribute to the sacrifices that so many families have
made throughout the years in defense of our great nation.
It is right to honor them because in honoring those that
have gone before we honor ourselves and we honor the principles
and ideals that they stood and fought for, principles and
ideals that our great nation still holds true today.
The American tradition of Memorial Day began more than 100
years ago at the end of the Civil War. This tradition began
with family members of fallen soldiers honoring their sacrifice
by lying wreathes or offering flowers at their grave sites.
On May 5, 1868, General John Logan proclaimed this day a
holiday through his General Order no. 11 to formalize what
these ordinary citizens had begun... The day was entitled
Decoration Day and was first observed on May 30, 1868.
In 1882, the name Decoration day was changed to Memorial
Day, and in 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday
to be held on the last Monday of May of each year.
Memorial Day is ingrained in our culture as a tribute to
honor the people who embodied the dreams and the passionate
fire of an entire country.
Since the Civil War, more than 1.1 million veterans, both
men and women, have lost their lives in service to the United
States. The Civil War alone accounted for more than 600,000
dead.
Thousands have perished in foreign lands and are interred
in those lands. The Mexico City National Cemetery, established
in 1850, is one of twenty-four American military cemeteries
in foreign countries.
Of the 1,563 people interred at this cemetery, there are
750 unknown US soldiers from the Mexican-American War, as
well as veterans of the American Civil War, the Indian campaigns,
the Spanish-American War and 813 civilians.
I am pleased to be here in Mexico, honoring some of the 1.1
million brave men and women who, for all of us, represent
the best of America, and fought to defend our freedom and
our democracy.
There have been times, some distant and others not so distant,
when the nations represented here were in conflict with each
other.
The founder and first president of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, once wrote the following words when referring to
patriots from Australia and New Zealand who had lost their
lives during the World War I, Gallipoli Campaign, in Turkey.
Ataturk wrote “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost
their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the
Johnnies and the Mehmets where they lie side by side here
in this country of ours… You, the mothers who sent their sons
from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are
now lying in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their
lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”
As part of the international community in Mexico City, I
can honestly say that our sons lying in this cemetery are
now lying in Mexico’s bosom and are in peace, having become
Mexico’s sons as well.
What binds us here today is knowing that democracy is better
than tyranny, that rule of law is better than despotism, that
individual rights are better than mob rule.
Ultimately, we sit here knowing that those ideals cherished
by democracies – those freedoms of speech, press and religion…are
not truly free, they must be fought for and defended… They
require service and sacrifice.
President George Bush once said, “The best way to honor America's
fallen heroes is to carry on their fight, defend our freedom,
and complete the mission for which they gave their lives.”…That
remains as true today as it has always been.
Today I’ll close with a simple prayer, and that is: May God
bless Mexico and the United States, and may God especially
bless the U.S. men and women who have died in military service
and who we honor on this Memorial Day.
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