WASHINGTON -- President Ford, saying America "will be put to many tests around the world," saluted the Marine Corps on its 200th birthday yesterday before a statue depicting one of the Corps' toughest tests -- the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.
"The United States must be constant and credible when we speak of American strength at home and on the seas of the world," Ford said in an hour-long, bicentennial ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony.
The ceremonies were at the statue of the famous scene depicting the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, the 7.8-square-mile Pacific Ocean island on which 4,590 Americans and 20,000 Japanese were killed during World War II. Marines invaded the island on Feb. 19, 1945.
The president spoke before several hundred Marine officers and the families. Also present was one of the two surviving men depicted raising the flag, Rene A. Gagnon of Manchester, N.H.
"My aim is not to train America's youth for war, not to develop weapons to kill. My aim is to develop the military strength which is our mightiest hope for peace," Ford said.
"We will be put to many tests around the world. The global economy must be stabilized. The world's need for energy must be balanced with the necessity to preserve our global environment. World industrial production needs must be met by judicious use of our available global resources.
"We must win the race of food against famine," Ford said. "We must assure peace rather than suffer war. We must preserve the ideals of liberty and freedom against challenges from hostile ideologies."
Ford placed a wreath of yellow mums at the base of the statue. Taps was played. The Marine Corps Band also played the Marine Hymn and "America."
