Remarks at Presentation Ceremony on Receiving New Army Flag.

Mr. Secretary, General Taylor, Gentlemen:

I think each of you, particularly those who wear the uniform of our country, must have some idea of my feelings at this moment when I am presented by old comrades-in-arms and by the Army of today with the newly constituted Flag of the great service to which I personally belonged forty-one years.

I like to think of the battle streamers on that flag, what they have meant in the way of devotion and patriotism, what they mean to our country. Indeed, I think if we should follow chronologically each one of the battle streamers and the name it has on it, we would discover we are not only reading the history of the United States Army, but very largely the history of the development of the United States of America.

So as I say "thank you" to each member of the Army today, from the Secretary to the newest recruit, I can only say that I wish also I might be able to say "thank you" to all those who have gone before us in the Army, to those who will come after us, because the Army, as long as there is a single potential enemy on the whole horizon of this country there must be an Army such as ours that has served so proudly in the past and so faithfully today.

Thank you very much Mr. Secretary and General Taylor.