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1995 Presidential Citizens Medal Recipients
April 21st 1995 Presentation of the Presidential Citizens Medals to:
Zachary Fisher
Lt. Gen. Claude Kicklighter
Maj. Gen. Adrian St. John
Remarks at a Memorial Service for the American Diplomats Who Died in Bosnia-Herzegovina in Arlington, Virginia
August 23rd, 1995
My fellow Americans, distinguished members of the diplomatic corps; most importantly, to the family, the friends, the colleagues, the loved ones of Robert Frasure, Joseph Kruzel, and Nelson Drew: Today we gather to honor three peacemakers who gave their lives seeking for others the blessings we Americans hold dear and too often take for granted, the opportunity to work and to dream, to raise our children to live and to love in a land of peace.
When I named Robert Frasure Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia, a key United States representative in seeking solutions to modern diplomacy's most difficult challengeending the bloodshed and bringing peace in the Balkanshe had already made diplomacy the steady dedication of a lifetime. He earned, justifiably, a reputation as a man for all crises, and many, many people around this world from Ethiopia to Estonia have better lives because of his superb work.
Joseph Kruzel put his mind to the test of creating lasting security in a world that has known too much war. Besides his outstanding work in Bosnia, he led the Pentagon's efforts on critical issues of NATO enlargement and the re-integration of Eastern Europe into the West after the cold war. His service to our country spanned 28 years, from an Air Force officer in Vietnam to work on SALT I to being a major force in bringing the nations of Europe into the Partnership For Peace. The world is a more secure place because of his dedication.
Colonel Nelson Drew was a soldier, a scholar, a teacher, and a gentle man. He was trained to fight war. But in more than 20 years of service as an Air Force officer, he gave his heart and soul to the search for peace. He was largely responsible for investing the military and diplomatic initiatives of our Nation in Bosnia with a coherent design. And he was universally respected for his knowledge, his negotiating skills, his strategic thinking about the future of NATO and Europe after the cold war. The White House and the Nation are better for his service.
Bob, Joe, and Nelson each represented the finest qualities of American citizenship. For their service and their sacrifice in the cause of peace and freedom, it is my honor on this day to award them each the President's Citizens Medal.
Let me say to Katharina Frasure and Sarah and Virginia; to Gail Kruzel and John and Sarah; to Sandy Drew and Samantha and Philip; and to all your other family members here, the American people mourn your loss and share your grief. America is profoundly grateful for the work your husbands and fathers did to make the world a better place.
I hope you will always remember, along with the personal memories you shared with me just a few moments ago, the pride they took in their calling and the passion they brought to the search for peace. And I hope that always, always, you will be very proud.
They were extraordinary Americans who made reason their weapon, freedom their cause, and peace their goal. Bob, Joe, and Nelson were in Bosnia because they were moved by the terrible injustice and suffering there. And they were there because they believed it could and must be changed. The sorrow we feel here reminds us of the suffering Bob, Joe, and Nelson sought to ease there.
So as we praise these menRobert Frasure, Joseph Kruzel, and Nelson Drew, quiet American heroes who gave their lives so that others might know a future of hope and a land at peacelet us resolve to carry on their struggle with the strength, determination, and caring they brought to their families, their work, and their very grateful Nation.
May God bless their memories and lift up their souls.
Note: The President spoke at 1:10 p.m. in Memorial Chapel at Fort Myer.
December 15th, 1995
The President. Good afternoon. Congressman Davis, Secretary Perry, General Shalikashvili, Deputy Secretary Talbott, distinguished friends: Let me say it is a great honor to welcome the Frasure family, the Kruzel family, the Drew family here today.
Yesterday in Paris I watched the Presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia sign an agreement that turns their troubled region from war to peace. Then on behalf of our Nation, I witnessed the agreement.
I witnessed it also in a more personal sense on behalf of three great Americans who could not be there: Bob Frasure, Joe Kruzel, and Nelson Drew. For without their efforts there would have been no agreement in Dayton, and no signing in Paris. The shells would still be falling in Sarajevo.
When Bob, Joe, and Nelson died on Mount Igman on August the 19th, they were serving in the greatest of all missions, working for peace and freedom. How I wish they could know that their efforts were destined to be crowned with success. I think they do.
They knew their mission was dangerous. They talked about the risks the night before they set out for Sarajevo. Just a few days earlier they had tried to get in by helicopter, but were forced back by bad weather. But because of who they were, they never hesitated, and the next morning they set out again.
To the family and friends of these three good and brave men, let me say again, as I have said before, we will never forget them. Their sacrifice reminds us of the tragedy they sought to relieve and reinforces the urgency of the search for a solution. They worked together as a team, but each had unique strengths.
Bob Frasure was a career diplomat who found the most difficult assignments, or perhaps it would be better to say they found him. From Angola to Ethiopia, to Estonia, and of course, to Bosnia, he helped to write some of the most dramatic chapters in the history of modern American foreign policy, yet he never sought the limelight for himself. As Secretary Christopher has said, he was a man of great accomplishment but little visible ego. His ingenuity and skill were matched by exceptional wit. His telegrams were so well written and compelling that they instantly became the talk of the State Department. His warmth touched countless colleagues and his judgment and resourcefulness countless lives.
Joe Kruzel was also a man with an apparently endless sense of humor. Over a three-decade career of service to our Nation, he retained also his idealism about our goals, while leavening it with a healthy dose of realism about the foibles of any large bureaucratic effort.
One of his colleagues remarked that while others were focused on day-to-day events, Joe's eyes were always on the horizon. He saw that an undivided democratic Europe was within reach, and he led the Pentagon's efforts in reaching out to the East to make that dream a reality. All of us, including myself and Bill Perry, valued his sage and firm advice. He did not mince words, and we all listened.
Nelson Drew, who served on my own staff, was a rare combination of remarkable soldier, respected scholar, profound strategic thinker, and a fine human being: born to a military family, achieving an exceptional military career, but he made peace his calling. I remember meeting him for the very first time in my office this past July just after I had finished a call with Prime Minister Major. I asked those in the room a question about Bosnia, and Nelson stepped forward to answer it with his usual succinct and clear wisdom. He was always ready to step forward for peace in Bosnia.
Bob, Joe, and Nelson devoted their lives and they gave their lives to achieve that goal. Now, we must follow the example they set to make sure this peace takes hold. Nothing we can say or do can bring our friends back again. But by striving to seal the peace in Bosnia for good, we can shape a future worthy of their noble sacrifice.
We honor their memory today and forever with the President's Citizens Medal.
Commander, post the orders.
[At this point, Lt. Comdr. John M. Richardson, USN, Naval Aide to the President, read the citations, and the President presented the awards.]
The President. Let me just say in closing that all Americans, whether or not they knew Bob, Joe, and Nelson, have been touched by their service to our country. Yesterday I saw it myself in Paris and just last month in my trip to the United Kingdom, to Ireland, to Germany and Spain. From people on the streets to Presidents and Prime Ministers, the world is looking for our leadership for peace because they know America can be trusted.
The world places that faith in our Nation because of the work of individual American citizens like Bob and Joe and Nelson. They embodied the spirit of service that sets our Nation apart. They stood for something larger than themselves. Like so many of their colleagues, they accepted hardship and the risks that go along with the job they embraced.
Often they were rewarded for their efforts only by more difficult assignments, for our country needs its best people precisely where the challenges are greatest. They answered that call to duty with courage and conviction and grace. They understood that our leadership requires our involvement and our commitment, not from the sidelines but on the ground at the heart of events.
These three exemplify the qualities that make our country strong: a faith that one person can touch the lives of many, a willingness to work hard for something they believed in, a generous heart and spirit. Their wonderful families that you have applauded so warmly today are perhaps the best and finest testament to the lives that they lived.
Without pause or complaint, they took it upon themselves to bring the gift of peace and freedom to others around the world, not for personal ambition but solely because it was the right thing to do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Let him be great, and love shall follow him." Looking at the faces of Katharina Frasure and Sarah and Virginia, Gail Kruzel and John and Sarah, Sandy Drew and Samantha and Philip and all the other family members here, we can say that love has truly followed these three great Americans we have honored.
May God bless and protect their memories, their families, and the country they gave everything to serve.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 3:24 p.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive Office Building. The medal was awarded posthumously to Nelson Drew, Joseph Kruzel, and Robert Frasure, American diplomats who died in Bosnia on August 19, 1995.
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Citizens Medal History
