Duty Honor Country - Audio (P26-30)

The shadows //are lengthening for me. //

The twilight is here. //

My days of old //have vanished，//tone and tint. //

They have gone //glimmering //

through the dreams //of things that were. //

Their memory //is one //of wondrous beauty，//

watered /by tears，//

and coaxed /and caressed /by the smiles of yesterday. //

I listen //vainly，//

but with thirsty ears，//

for the witching melody //of faint bugles //blowing reveille，//

of far drums //beating the long roll. //

In my dreams//

I hear again /the crash of guns，//the rattle of musketry，//

the strange，//mournful /mutter of the battlefield. //

But /in the evening of my memory，//

always //I come back //to West Point. //

Always //there echoes /and re-echoes: /Duty，/Honor，Country. /

Today //marks /my final /roll call /with you，//

but I want you to know //that when I cross the river//

my last /conscious thoughts //will be/

of The Corps，//and The Corps，//and The Corps. //

I bid you /farewell. //

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P22-25)

You are the leaven//

which binds together /the entire fabric /of our national system of defense. //

From your ranks /come the great captains /who hold the nation's destiny in their hands /the moment the war tocsin sounds. //

The Long /Gray Line /has never failed us. //

Were you to do so，//

a million ghosts /in olive drab，//in brown khaki，//in blue and gray，//

would rise /from their white crosses /thundering /those magic words: /Duty，/Honor，/Country. /

This does not mean //that you are war mongers. //

On the contrary，//the soldier，/above all other people，/prays for peace，/

for he must suffer and bear /the deepest wounds and scars of war. //

But always in our ears /ring the ominous words /of Plato，that wisest of all philosophers: //

"Only the dead /have seen the end of war." //

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P20-21)

Others /will debate /the controversial issues，/national and international，/which divide men's minds; //

but serene，/calm，/aloof，/you stand /as the Nation's /war-guardian，//

as its lifeguard /from the raging tides /of international conflict，/

as its gladiator /in the arena of battle. /

For a century and a half/

you have defended，guarded，and protected /its hallowed traditions /of liberty and freedom，/of right and justice. //

Let civilian voices //argue the merits /or demerits /of our processes of government; //

whether our strength //is being sapped /by deficit financing，indulged in too long，//

by federal paternalism grown too mighty，//

by power groups grown too arrogant，//

by politics grown too corrupt，//

by crime grown too rampant，//

by morals grown too low，//

by taxes grown too high，//

by extremists /grown too violent; //

 

whether our personal liberties /are as thorough and complete as they should be. //

 

These /great national problems /are not /for your /professional participation /or military solution. //

 
Your guidepost /stands out /like a ten-fold beacon in the night: /Duty，/Honor，/Country. /

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P19)

And through all this welter //of change and development，//

your mission /remains fixed，//determined，/inviolable: /

it is to win our wars. //

Everything else /in your professional career /is but corollary /to this /vital /dedication. //

All other public purposes，//all other public projects，//all other public needs，/great or small，//

will find others /for their accomplishment. //

But you /are the ones /who are trained to fight. //

Yours /is the profession of arms，//the will to win，//the sure knowledge /that in war /there is no substitute for victory; //

that if you lose，//the nation will be destroyed; //

that the very obsession //of your public service /must be: Duty，/Honor，Country. /

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P17 - 18)

You now face /a new world //-- a world of change. //

The thrust into outer space /of the satellite，spheres，and missiles //

mark the beginning of another epoch //in the long /story of mankind. //

In the five /or more /billions of years /the scientists tell us /it has taken to form the earth，//

in the three or more billion years of development of the human /race，//

there has never been //a more abrupt /or staggering evolution. //

We deal now //not with things of this world alone，//

but with the illimitable distances //

and as yet /unfathomed /mysteries of the universe. // We are reaching out //for a new /and boundless frontier. //

We speak in strange terms: //

of harnessing /the cosmic energy; //

of making winds and tides //work for us; //

of creating /unheard //synthetic materials /to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; //

to purify /sea water /for our drink; //

of mining ocean floors //for new fields /of wealth and food; //

of disease preventatives //to expand life into the hundreds of years; //

of controlling the weather //for a more equitable distribution of heat and cold，/of rain and shine; /

of space ships /to the moon; //

of the primary target in war，//

no longer /limited to the armed forces of an enemy，//

but instead to include /his civil populations; //

of ultimate conflict //between a united human race //

and the sinister forces //of some other /planetary galaxy; //

of such /dreams and fantasies /as to make life the most /exciting of all time. //

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P13 - 16)

The code //which those words perpetuate //

embraces /the highest /moral laws /

and will stand the test /of any ethics or philosophies /ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. //

Its requirements //are for the things /that are right，//

and its restraints /are from the things /that are wrong. //

The soldier，/above all other men，//

is required to practice /the greatest act /of religious training /-- sacrifice. //

In battle /and in the face of danger and death，//

he discloses those /divine attributes which his Maker gave /when he created man in his own image. //

No physical courage /and no brute instinct //can take the place///

of the Divine /help //which alone //can sustain him. //

However horrible //the incidents of war may be，//

the soldier //who is called upon to offer /and to give his life for his country /is the noblest /development /of mankind. //

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P11 - 12)

I do not know //the dignity //of their birth，//

but I do know //the glory of their death. //

They died //unquestioning，//uncomplaining，//

with faith /in their hearts，//and on their lips /the hope /that we /would go on /to victory. //

Always，/for them: /Duty，/Honor，/Country; /

always //their blood /and sweat /and tears，/as we sought /the way /and the light /and the truth. //

And 20 years after，//on the other side of the globe，//

again //the filth //of murky foxholes，//

the stench /of ghostly trenches，//

the slime /of dripping dugouts; /

those /boiling suns of relentless heat，/

those torrential rains of devastating storms; //

the loneliness /and utter desolation /of jungle trails; //

the bitterness /of long separation /from those /they loved and cherished; //

the deadly pestilence /of tropical disease; //

the horror /of stricken areas of war; //

their resolute /and determined defense，/


  

their swift /and sure attack，//

their indomitable purpose，//their complete and decisive victory /-- always /victory. /

Always /through the bloody haze /of their last /reverberating shot，/

the vision /of gaunt，/ghastly men /reverently following /your password /of: Duty，/Honor，/Country. /