Top 10 Memorial Day quotes by U.S. Presidents

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May 26, 2014

Soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) place flags in front of the graves in Arlington National Cemetery, Va., May 22, 2014. (Photo: Spc. Cody W. Torkelson)

10. George H.W. Bush, 1992
Each of the patriots whom we remember on this day was first a beloved son or daughter, a brother or sister, or a spouse, friend, and neighbor.

9. Barack Obama, 2009
They, and we, are the legacies of an unbroken chain of proud men and women who served their country with honor, who waged war so that we might know peace, who braved hardship so that we might know opportunity, who paid the ultimate price so that we might know freedom.

8. Herbert Hoover, 1931
Valley Forge has come indeed to be a symbol in American life. It is more than the name for a place, more than the scene of a military episode, more than just a critical event in history. Freedom was won here by fortitude not by the flash of the sword.

7. Richard Nixon, 1974
This Memorial Day should remind us of the greatness that past generations of Americans achieved from Valley Forge to Vietnam, and it should inspire us with the determination to keep America great and free by keeping America safe and strong in our own time, a time of unique destiny and opportunity for our Nation.

6. George W. Bush, 2005
Looking across this field, we see the scale of heroism and sacrifice. All who are buried here understood their duty. All stood to protect America. And all carried with them memories of a family that they hoped to keep safe by their sacrifice.

5. Richard Nixon, 1974
Peace is the real and right memorial for those who have died in war.

4. George W. Bush, 2003
Their sacrifice was great, but not in vain. All Americans and every free nation on earth can trace their liberty to the white markers of places like Arlington National Cemetery. And may God keep us ever grateful.

3. Woodrow Wilson, 1914
They do not need our praise. They do not need that our admiration should sustain them. There is no immortality that is safer than theirs. We come not for their sakes but for our own, in order that we may drink at the same springs of inspiration from which they themselves drank.

2. Herbert Hoover, 1931
It was the transcendent fortitude and steadfastness of these men who in adversity and in suffering through the darkest hour of our history held faithful to an ideal. Here men endured that a nation might live.

1. John F. Kennedy, 1961 (Inaugural address)
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

(Below: Time-lapse video of flags being placed at every marker at Arlington National Cemetery in 2014)