Remarks on Arrival at Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Oxnard, California.

Commander Whipple, all of the distinguished guests here, and all of you who have welcomed us so graciously to California:

I want you to know that it is very good to be here, back in my home State, and also to have this opportunity to welcome back the Mobile Construction Battalion 3 from Vietnam.

We were remarking just as we got off' the airplane that the Secretary of State and I both served in the Navy in World War II, and so consequently we have a special feeling toward this naval base and I for the Seabees, for a reason that I will mention.

The Secretary of State, when he was in the Pacific, was stationed on carriers. I was stationed on land as an administrative officer--an operations officer for a Marine transport air group. In that capacity I had the responsibility of selecting the particular mess that the very small detachment which I headed was to use.

I tried them all, as we went up through the chain of islands in the Solomons. I tried the Army. I tried the Marines. I tried the Air Force, and I tried the Navy--the regular Navy, that is. Finally I tried the Seabees, and that is what we settled on.

I can tell you that I don't say for one moment that the Marines and the Army and the Air Force don't serve this country well and don't present for the country some great fighting men, but I found during World War II that when it came to good food, the Seabees had the best in the Pacific--back 25 years ago before most of the men in this battalion were born.

That, of course, doesn't seem very important as you come back from your tour in Vietnam. I think what particularly is important to mention at this time is that over half the men in this battalion have had two tours in Vietnam, and a number of you have had three tours.

As you return we welcome you, we express appreciation for what you have done. This unit has had one of the most outstanding records of any unit in service in Vietnam.

As we express appreciation for what you have done in Vietnam, we want to pledge to you--I as President, the Secretary of State, all of us in this administration-that we, on our part, will assume our responsibility to do everything that we can to bring the war in Vietnam to an honorable conclusion; and by an honorable conclusion I mean the kind of conclusion so that we can have a better chance to live in a peaceful world, not have another war, so that your sons will not be fighting at another period in another war in the future.

In concluding, I simply want to say that as we look at that war and all of the sacrifices it has meant to so many families in America, it has been controversial here in the United States and in the world, but I, having been there many times, having seen what our fighting men have done, am proud of the young Americans that have been there--proud as an American, proud now as President and Commander in Chief.

I think that as I recognize what you have done, the sacrifices you have made, that I can assure you we will do everything we possibly can to see that those sacrifices were not in vain, and that we can build a world in which nations and peoples can live together in peace.

Thank you very much.