What is the Greatest Military Speech of All Time? My Choice is Duty, Honor, Country by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.

2014-12-23T17:21:31-05:00

There are many Military speeches, but there can be only one that captivates the essence of the Military. My catch phase Duty Honor Country by GENERAL OF THE ARMY Douglas MacArthur.
General Of The Army Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur's speech to the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., May 12, 1962, in accepting the Thayer Award.

No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this, coming from a profession I have served so long and a people I have loved so well. It fills me with an emotion I cannot express. But this award is not intended primarily to honorº a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code — the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent. That is the animation of this medallion. For all eyes and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the American soldier. That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal, arouses a sense of pride and yet of humility which will be with me always.

"Duty, Honor, Country" — those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.

The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.

But these are some of the things they do.º They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.

They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

They give you a temper of the will,º a quality of theº imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, an appetite for adventure over love of ease.

They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.

And what sort of soldiers are those you are to lead? Are they reliable? Are they brave? Are they capable of victory?

Their story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man at arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefieldº many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then, as I regard him now, as one of the world's noblest figures; not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless.

His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give. He needs no eulogy from me, or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast.

But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements. º

In twenty campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of his people. From one end of the world to the other, he has drained deep the chalice of courage.

As I listened to those songs, in memory's eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs on many a weary march, from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle-deep through theº mire of shell-pocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.

I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory.

Always for them: Duty, Honor, Country. Always their blood, and sweat, and tears, as we soughtº the way and the light and the truth.º And twenty years after, on the other side of the globe, againº the filth of dirty foxholes, the stench of ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts, those broilingº suns ofº relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storms, the loneliness and utter desolation of jungle trails, the bitterness of long separation of those they loved and cherished, the deadly pestilence of tropicalº disease, the horror of stricken areas of war.

Their resolute and determined defense, their swift and sure attack, their indomitable purpose, their complete and decisive victory — always victory, always through the bloody haze of their last reverberating shot, the vision of gaunt, ghastly men, reverently following your password of Duty, Honor, Country.

The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral law and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promoted for the uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong. The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training: sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death, he disposes those divine attributes which his Maker gave when he created man in His own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the divine help which alone can sustain him. However hard the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind. º

You now face a new world, a world of change. The thrust into outer space of the satellite spheres and missiles markº a beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind.º In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a more abrupt or staggering evolution. We deal now, not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and asº yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We are reaching out for a new and boundless frontier. We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tides work for us; of creating unheardº synthetic materials to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; to purifyº sea water for our drink; of mining the ocean floors for new fields of wealth and food; of disease preventatives to expand life into the hundreds of years; of controlling the weather for a more equitable distribution of heat and cold, of rain and shine; of spaceships to the Moon;º of the primary target in war, no longer limited to the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations;ºd of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy; ofº such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of all time.º

And through all this welter of change and development your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable. It is to win our wars. Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purposes,º all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment;º but you are the ones who are trained to fight. Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory, that if you lose, the Nation will be destroyed, that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/MacArthur/1962_speech_to_the_Corps.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur

Duty, Honor, Country: Gen. MacArthur's Speech to the Corps of Cadets, 1962

Accurately retranscribed from an audio recording of the original speech. (Most online versions of this speech are faulty, and/or omit sections.)

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Dec 23 at 2014 5:23 PM

2014-12-23T17:23:37-05:00

Great leader. Not the best politician. In other words, I LOVED him!

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2014 5:30 PM

2014-12-23T17:30:02-05:00

I'm a fan of this quote, which was part of a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Dec 23 at 2014 9:40 PM

2014-12-23T21:40:44-05:00

I keep finding all sorts of great nuggets. I thought you might like this link while I find the sound bite of one of my favorites........

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/08/01/the-35-greatest-speeches-in-history/

35 Greatest Speeches in History | The Art of Manliness

These speeches lifted hearts in dark times, gave hope in despair, refined the characters of men, inspired brave feats, gave courage to the weary, honored the dead, and changed the course of history.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Dec 23 at 2014 9:47 PM

2014-12-23T21:47:51-05:00

WWII---From "Winnie"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IHadByMvXk

Winston Churchill - We Shall Fight them on the beaches

Winston Churchill speech We Shall Fight them on the beaches June 4th 1940

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2014 9:49 PM

2014-12-23T21:49:58-05:00

Does this one count?

http://youtu.be/tpH5L8zCtSk

U.S. Armed Forces - We Must Fight - President Reagan (HD) 2015

Video by Matthew Worth (Canadianmatt3) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/canadianmatt3 US Armed Forces "A Time For Choosing" Speech By 40th President o...

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2014 9:53 PM

2014-12-23T21:53:54-05:00

Or this one?

http://youtu.be/Wt8y18YFH70

Ronald Reagan A Soldiers Pledge Listen Learn Remember

A very inspirational speech by Ronald Reagan. This is what a President is supposed to sound like. Listen, learn and remember who we are!

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2014 9:54 PM

2014-12-23T21:54:13-05:00

http://youtu.be/MLOjIKt7wOk

Oliver North, US Troops Speech

To support the troops, visit http://NRAGive.com or http://NRA.org/troops/soldier.htm This video tribute on the front lines is the story of true patriots, tol...

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Dec 23 at 2014 10:35 PM

2014-12-23T22:35:30-05:00

The Legendary GENERAL OF THE ARMY Douglas MacArthur Duty Honor Speech to the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., May 12, 1962, in accepting the Thayer Award.

You tube version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgqSI1BESVE

General Douglas MacArthur: Duty, Honor, Country

An excerpt from MacArthur's Thayer Award Acceptance Address at West Point. "Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ough...

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2014 10:55 PM

2014-12-23T22:55:05-05:00

The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.
Colin Powell

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Dec 24 at 2014 12:02 AM

2014-12-24T00:02:49-05:00

The original Band of Brothers speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM

Henry V - Speech - Eve of Saint Crispin's Day - HD

Kenneth Branagh's masterpiece film of the Shakespeare classic play. Done in High Definition. Blows away the Braveheart battle speech.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 24 at 2014 12:52 AM

2014-12-24T00:52:35-05:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ULAFxlrvY

Patton's speech to the 3rd army

My grandfather was a member of the 601st battalion, 1st tank destroyer group, and fought in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. He later went on to ser...

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 24 at 2014 1:11 AM

2014-12-24T01:11:37-05:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybju5hb8nkc

Black Hawk Down last speech

the fantastic final speech of one soldier from one of the greatest movies ever!

Response by SPC John Cummings made Dec 24 at 2014 2:46 AM

2014-12-24T02:46:12-05:00

Not quite on topic, but I love Tony Blair's speech to the USCongress. Whether you agree w OIF or not it was a great one

Response by MAJ Keira Brennan made Mar 4 at 2015 7:26 PM

2015-03-04T19:26:31-05:00

Historical Fiction - but the German General's speech dismissing his troops from Band of Brothers. All of us who have been to war deserve his final lines.

We have a bond only in combat, between brothers who share foxholes... You deserve long happy lives of peace...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcMk85ZsBh0

HBO Band of Brothers: German General's speech

This is the speech that is given by a German General to his men after surrendering to the Americans. This is directly cut from the episode, nothing added not...

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Aug 1 at 2015 9:54 PM

2015-08-01T21:54:04-04:00

Thank you for asking this question. It has inspired a theme that I will follow in choosing a weekly video for my VFW Post website. The members have come to expect something special every week and it is sometimes a difficult task to live up to their expectations. However, prodded by your suggestion I have discovered a wealth of these speeches on the Internet. The various ones suggested by each member responding in this discussion thread have sent me on fruitful searches.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 12 at 2016 11:54 PM

2016-07-12T23:54:55-04:00

While General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's Duty, Honor, Country speech is wonderful SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL. I think the greatest speech may well be Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address. We had to memorize both when I was a plebe at West Point.
Another great speech which may be legendary is Leonidas speech at the battle of Thermopylae.

Response by MSG Louis Alexander made Mar 9 at 2018 11:43 AM

2018-03-09T11:43:06-05:00

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/roybenavidezmedalofhonorspeech.htm A great motivational speech. Take a moment and view it will tell you the heroism resides in each of us.

Roy Benavidez - Speech to the Million Dollar Round Table Annual Meeting