RIDGWAY TO THE TROOPS

"I HAVE heard from several sources, chiefly from members of combat units, the questions: 'Why are we here? What are we fighting for?'...Every member of this command is entitled to a full and reasoned answer. Mine follows...It is not a question of this or that Korean town...The real issues are whether the power of Western civilization as God has permitted it to flower in our own beloved lands shall defy and defeat Communism; whether the rule of men who shoot their prisoners, enslave their citizens and deride the dignity of man shall displace the rule of those to whom the individual and his rights are sacred...

"The sacrifices we have made...are not offered vicariously for others, but in our own direct defense...The issue now joined is whether...the next flight of fear-driven people...shall be checked and defeated overseas or permitted step by step to close in on our own homeland...Never have members of any military command had...a finer opportunity [to prove] an honor to the profession of arms and a credit to those who bred us."

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