Saturday May 26 10:07 AM ET

'We Are in Their Debt,' Bush Says of U.S. Veterans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush urged Americans on Saturday to take time over the holiday weekend to reflect on the sacrifices that U.S. veterans made for their country.

Bush dedicated his weekly radio address to Memorial Day, a holiday observed on Monday in honor of America's war dead.

Noting that he would be marking the day with military veterans at a White House breakfast, then at Arlington National Cemetery, where he is to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, Bush
said Americans had an obligation to remember veterans and those who died in war.

``We will remember the heroism, the hardship, the national gain and personal loss our wars have brought,'' Bush said. He pointed out that he was raised by a war veteran, former President George Bush, a decorated Navy pilot.

``America has been given so much, but of all our assets, resources and strengths, none have counted for more than the courage of young soldiers in the face of battle,'' he said.

Bush said that although the decision to go to war is often made at the White House, the country is indebted to the men and women in uniform stationed around the world who carry out the orders.

``We are in their debt, more than a lifetime of Memorial Days could ever repay,'' he said. ``With their sacrifice comes a duty that will go on through the generations to honor them in our thoughts, in our words and in our lives.''

Bush will spend the first half of Memorial Day at various events in Washington, then go to Mesa, Arizona, for a commemoration and national moment of remembrance.

After Arizona, he continues on to Los Angeles for his first trip to California since becoming president. Bush will stay in California until Wednesday.

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