Soldiers, I had lately like to have been taken from you by the attempt of a few desperate men, but by the grace and providence of the gods, I am still preserved.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.
Soldiers, I intend to stay here, not only as long as a man remains, but as long as a piece of a man is left.
There is nothing left to me but honor, and my life, which is saved.
For those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, we are grateful that such men and women were among us. For those who continue to serve, we honor their commitment. For those who return to civilian life, we honor their service.
I feel, as never before, how justly, from the dawn of history to the present time, men have paid the homage of their gratitude and admiration to the memory of those who nobly sacrifice their lives, that their fellow-men may live in safety and in honor.
I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.
The brave men and women who have served - and those who continue to serve - our armed forces have selflessly sacrificed for our nation, and we owe it to them to provide the best services and protections available when they're overseas and after they return home.
O God, we praise Thee for keeping us till this day, and for the full assurance that Thou wilt never let us go.
I appeal to you as a soldier to spare me the humiliation of seeing my regiment march to meet the enemy and I not share its dangers.
I must return to my old comrades of the Great War - to the brown, the treeless, the flat and grave-set plain of Flanders - to the rolling, heat-miraged downlands of the Somme - for I am dead with them, and they live in me again.