President Obama highlighted the stories of three Afghanistan veterans, including one who died as recently as April, in his weekly radio address in advance of his Monday visit to the Arlington National Cemetery.
John Dawson was from Massachusetts and “gave his life as an Army combat medic” in April in Afghanistan on a mission to train and advise Afghan forces, said Obama.
Obama said that Wyatt Martin grew up in Arizona and loved fishing and the outdoors, while Ramon Morris was born in Jamaica and came to Queens as a teenager.
“In their lives, Specialist Wyatt Martin and Sergeant First Class Ramon Morris travelled different paths,” said Obama. “But in December, their paths intersected as the final two Americans to give their lives during our combat mission in Afghanistan.”
“Americans gave everything they had — not for glory, not even for gratitude, but for something greater than themselves,” said Obama.
“We are the Americans they died to defend,” he said. “We have to honor their memory. We have to care for their families, and our veterans who served with them. And as a nation, we have to remain worthy of their sacrifice — forever committed to the country they loved and the freedom they fought for and died for.”
