Vietnam Veteran Chuck Hagel DOD Retirement Tribute

Hagel 'Quintessentially American,' Obama Says at Farewell Tribute
Department of Defense
By Claudette Roulo
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks during the Armed Forces Farewell Tribute to him on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va., Jan. 28, 2015. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Laura Buchta

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2015 – President Barack Obama hosted an armed forces farewell tribute to retiring Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia.

"Today is a celebration of a quintessentially American life; a man from the heartland who devoted his life to America," Obama said.

From his time as a boy in Nebraska, to volunteering for a war that would see him pull his own brother from a burning vehicle, to leading the charge to ensure veterans exposed to Agent Orange were treated fairly, to the Senate -- where he led the fight to establish the Post-9/11 GI Bill -- and then on to head the Defense Department through a difficult transition, Hagel's career has been characterized by service to others, the president said.

"Thanks to Secretary Hagel's guiding hand, this institution is better positioned for the future," he said. "...But Chuck, I want to suggest that perhaps your greatest impact -- a legacy that will be felt for years to come -- has been your own example.

"It's not simply that you've been the first enlisted combat veteran, and the first Vietnam veteran, to serve as secretary of defense, it's how your life experience -- being down in the muck, feeling the bullets fly overhead -- has allowed you to connect with our troops like no other secretary before."

‘We Are All Americans’

One day last year, Obama said, Hagel arrived with a guest for their regular weekly meeting at the Oval Office. The man, Jerome "Skip" Johnson, had been Hagel's platoon leader in Vietnam, and the two men had only just reconnected after nearly 50 years, the president said.

"Chuck told me about how in 1968, with protests and race riots back home causing tensions among our troops in Vietnam, and Chuck's unit was mostly white, but Skip is African-American," Obama said.

"As the platoon commander, he was not going to tolerate division or distrust, and he went to his men and made himself clear: 'We are all Americans. We're going to live together, we're going to take care of each other, we're fighting together, we're going to get each other's backs. Let's get it done.'"

"And at that moment in the Oval Office, as these two soldiers stood before me, with Skip's grandsons looking on, it wasn't lost on any of us how far our nation has come. And I want to thank Chuck for that moment," the president said, "because part of the reason we've traveled that distance is we've had men like Chuck Hagel serving and representing what's best in America."

"In moments when we are tested as a military, as a nation, sometimes we get distracted by what divides us and lose sight of what unites us,” Obama said. “And at those moments, we can draw strength from the example of a sergeant from Nebraska and a lieutenant from Chicago. We are all Americans. We live together, we sacrifice together, we take care of each other. Sometimes we have to fight together."
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