President Trump Presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to General Jack Keane – RICH TV LIVE – MARCH 10, 2020 – LIVE FROM
Well thank you very much and good afternoon the first lady and i please are delighted to welcome you all to the white house for this very special occasion and that it is today is my great privilege to present our nation’s highest civilian honor the presidential medal of freedom to a courageous warrior and a fearless patriot general jack keane we are very
Excited to have jack’s wife angela with us today along with his brother ronald and his son daniel thank you all very much it’s great and thank you we’re also joined by a very distinguished assembly of leaders including secretary mike pompeo mike thank you very much secretary marquez for attorney general william bar secretary dan briolette senator lindsey
Graham lindsey chimbure the joint chiefs of staff general mark milley great job mark and general keith alexander okay thank you very much thank you all jack keane was born in 1943 into a family with a strong tradition of military service his father served during world war two as a marine in the pacific theatre jack grew up in a housing project on the lower
East side of manhattan and became the first member of his family to attend college at fordham university he joined the rotc distinguishing himself as a cadet and a member of the famed pershing rifles upon graduating jack was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the us army he volunteered to serve in vietnam and joined the legendary 101st airborne division
As a platoon leader in later company commander jack fought through fierce and bloody combat he demonstrated unflinching courage under fire and for his exceptional valor jack was awarded the silver star after vietnam jack and his late wife terry adopted two wonderful sons they raised daniel and their late son matthew with extraordinary love and care in the army
Jack designed new training methods to ensure that military leaders would always be extremely well prepared for the intensity of combat command his rigor discipline creativity toughness they all achieved tremendous results general william tepee who helped rebuild the american military after vietnam wrote that jack was the best brigade commander that he’s ever
Had he was very exceptional at all levels in 1991 jack became a brigadier general and commander of the joint readiness training center he devised a state-of-the-art program that prepared our nation’s servicemembers for combat against extended insurgencies in both urban environment and rugged terrain jack prepared this nation for the wars to come and help
Train soldiers that would later serve in bosnia and somalia haiti and kosovo jack was named a vice chief of staff of the army in 1999 and was in his office on september 11th 2001 when terrorists struck the pentagon he ran through smoke and debris and evacuated the injured saving lives he visited the wounded and hospitals and attended scores of funerals for
The fallen patriots slain in the attack jackson helped oversee the initial military operations in iraq and afghanistan it was the first senior military official to visit troops in the field in 2003 he was offered the position of army chief of staff but in a profound act of devotion he turned down the position and left the army after nearly 38 years to care
For his wife carrie who would develop parkinson’s disease in 2006 jack helped engineered the search that stabilized the deteriorating situation in iraq and allowed iraqis to finally take charge of their own future and the year since jack has continued to offer his sage counsel to military and policy leaders and to visit our troops on the frontiers and jack
I have to say has given me a lot of good advice too he’s been called a national treasure by henry kissinger and is a recipient of the bradley prize and the ronald reagan peace through strength award jack keen is a visionary a brilliant strategist and an american hero general you will be remembered as one of the finest and most dedicated soldiers in a long
And storied history of the united states military no question about it congratulations again to you and your family i would now like to ask the military aide to come forward and present general jack keen with the presidential medal of freedom thank you general jack keen is one of our nation’s most distinguished military leaders general keen proudly served
His country in vietnam as a paratrooper receiving the silver star for his courage and gallantry in action his steadfast leadership as a four-star general and his vice chief of staff of the army provided stability and direction for those under his command since retiring from the military general keen has remained engaged on matters of foreign policy devoting
Himself to developing policies that confront the dynamic threats facing our nation the united states proudly honors general jack keen whose tireless devotion to our country has defined him as a true american patriot thank you thank you very much thank you thank you yo i’m usually not uncomfortable in front of cameras even talking about foreign policy
But today i had to talk about my own life and that that’s adds a little bit of tension but you wouldn’t normally have mr. president deeply honored but it’s extraordinary award and to receive it here in the white house surrounded my family my friends and my senior government officials it’s really quite overwhelming and you can hear it in my voice thank you
Mr. president for your generous and your kind words and also for your very touching and personal phone calls several months ago about this i’ve always experienced the love of family and friends some friends that are here today we go back over 50 years my parents raised my brother ron and me in a working-class catholic environment we were fortunate to attend
Catholic schools in new york city we were so strengthened it’s so strengthened our values and also our character my brother ron has always been there for me and i’m delighted he’s here today i thank god for guiding me in the journey of life i have two great love’s in my life terry doyle who the president mentioned my love since we were 18 we lost her too soon
And angela mcclellan who i will love for the remainder of my life with all honesty i wouldn’t be standing here without their love and their devotion my son daniel is here love you a brownie your van and my other son matthew he was a special angel who was with the angels in heaven today i have known for some time that there are two major events that changed
My life the first was the vietnam war an infantry try our trooper in close combat with my soldiers where death was always a silent companion yet it was there i truly learned the value of life the value of human life to treasure it to protect it the experience crystallized to me the critical importance of our soldiers to be properly prepared with necessary
Skill and the appropriate amount of will to succeed in combat i lived the life as the president mentioned for 38 years in the army i lived that life among heroes who inspired me and are still in all of them today my sergeants my fellow officers and my mentors shaped me significantly and several times they saved me from myself and that’s the truth of it the
Second event was 9/11 the pentagon i lost 85 army teammates lived the tragedy up-close attended scores of funerals with terry two days after as a new yorker i was dispatched to the world trade center horror walk across those smoldering ruins and then making certain that mayor giuliani had all the military support that the pentagon could render it was personal
And i was angry and despite having left the army 17 years ago i never left the 9/11 wars and america’s focus on radical islam and what they did to us i could not have imagined that i would stay so involved on national security and foreign policy my motivation is pretty simple do whatever i can even in a small way to keep america and the american people safe
Mr. president thank you for the trump defense build-up what you were doing to dig us out of the deep hole that you found the military end is all about protecting america not just for today but for the generation to come and thank you so much for everyone for sharing this day and thank you again mr. president for making this day happen god bless america and
God bless the american people thank you
Transcribed from video
President Trump Presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to General Jack Keane By RICH TV LIVEliveBroadcastDetails{isLiveNowfalsestartTimestamp2020-03-10T201910+0000endTimestamp2020-03-10T211520+0000}
