Consul General Speeches

232nd Independence Day Celebration, USS Elrod, Amsterdam, July 4, 2008

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Fellow Citizens of the United States, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good Afternoon.

It is a special honor for me to greet you on this 232^nd Independence Day of the United States of America from the flight deck of the USS Elrod.  Thank you, Commander Beltz, and thank you to the extraordinary crew of the USS Elrod for hosting us today and for your service to our nation.  We are grateful that Chargé d’Affaires Michael Gallagher is able to join us from the U.S. Embassy in The Hague.  And I would also like to thank Captain Devon Goldsmith, the Defense Attaché at our Embassy, for all of his assistance in making this event possible.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, an American president of Dutch heritage, said during a speech in 1936, “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.”  On July 4^th we celebrate the culmination of years of struggle:  struggle to carve settlements out of the North American wilderness, to forge communities from diverse backgrounds and nations, and to assert the rights of a newly confident group of colonies for self-governance.  We celebrate our struggle to achieve freedom.

But more than anything, July 4^th represents the beginning of a great experiment:  a democracy founded on the self-evident truths that are so familiar to my fellow Americans and that resonate all over the world:  that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  And “– That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” 
During two weeks in June 1776, Thomas Jefferson labored to set down in writing these guiding principles for a new nation.  He readily attributed many of the ideas he set forth in the Declaration of Independence to other leading political philosophers.  Yet this bold assertion that the rights of man are universal was revolutionary as the basis for a new republic.

Of course by the time the members of the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to adopt the Declaration of Independence, they understood the import of their actions.  They had already been at war with Great Britain for a year and knew the heavy price they would pay if their venture somehow failed.  So it must have been both a solemn and exhilarating moment for each member of the Congress to put pen to paper and declare, “ … we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” to the cause of liberty and democracy.
This act of courage and conviction by our first patriots laid the foundation for the rights we have defended in the past, and continue to defend today.
It is not every day that a US Navy vessel docks in Amsterdam.  And it is certainly not every Independence Day.  But I think it is fitting that we look to the defenders of freedom to host our celebration.

I had heard that this ship’s namesake was a hero of the Second World War.  The United States and The Netherlands forged a special bond during that conflict that endures today, in a churchyard in the town of Opijnen, in remembrances of Operation Market Garden and the famine relief effort called “Operation Chow Hound,” and at the American cemetery at Margraten.  And it endures through the close cooperation between the United States and The Netherlands on today’s challenges.

Looking into the historical account of the heroic contributions of Henry T. Elrod led me far from the European Theatre of Operations, to the siege of Wake Island in the Pacific.  Captain Elrod sacrificed his life in defense of Wake Island, and was posthumously awarded our nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.  Piloting a Marine Corps plane in defense of the island, Captain Elrod became the first man to sink a warship from a fighter aircraft.

I was particularly struck by an exchange during the air battle between Captain Elrod and one of his fellow pilots, who suggested that it was impossible to sink a man-of-war in this fashion.  Elrod replied, “Well, if it’s impossible, it will take a little longer so let’s get started.”

Henry Elrod captured in that single utterance the courage and determination of a nation at war, and something deeper as well:  the American spirit of optimism.  It is this spirit that has drawn immigrants to the United States, from the earliest days of the Dutch settlement on what we now know as Manhattan Island, to the present day.  It is this spirit that has imbued our quest for discovery, from the mysteries of our planet’s deepest oceans to the depths of space.  And it is this spirit that has inspired Americans to strive for a “more perfect union” beyond what was originally envisioned by our imperfect founders; to end the abomination of slavery, to enfranchise women, to end racial segregation and abhor discrimination, to fight poverty and injustice.

On behalf of my Dutch and American colleagues at the U.S. Consulate General in Amsterdam, we welcome you to our commemoration of Independence Day, when we pause to remember the day that a nation was born with the stroke of a pen.  And to reaffirm our dedication to the cause of liberty.  It is a great privilege to represent the United States here in The Netherlands and to be a part of the Amsterdam community.  We are very grateful for the continued support we receive from so many of you.

I would like to extend a special note of thanks to the Royal Dutch Navy for their outstanding cooperation on the visit of the USS Elrod to The Netherlands.   To the Passenger Terminal of Amsterdam:   thank you for your incomparable hospitality today and on all the other days when you extend the warm welcome of Amsterdam to visitors from the United States and around the world.

And with regard to our terrific sponsors I would simply say that without them, this day would quite literally not have been possible.  Some of our sponsors have stood by us for many years and their unique contributions have become something of an institution – certainly something that our guests look forward to enjoying each summer.  We also have several new sponsors this year and I am grateful to them for joining us.  And a number of the companies that supported us today have contributed items that we hope you will take with you, as a remembrance of our time together on July 4, 2008.

Now, before I leave to you enjoy the rest of this afternoon, may I ask that we please give the crew of the USS Elrod a round of applause for hosting us today.

Thank you for sharing with us our Independence Day celebration.