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Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre Hails Allied Effort in Berlin
| BRUSSELS, Belgium -- For nearly
50 years, East and West Berlin stood divided by the
infamous Berlin Wall. Today, the city stands united, a
testament to hope and freedom. "The spirit of
liberty can tear down the mightiest walls of
oppression," Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre
said in Berlin June 27, at ceremonies commemorating the
50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. "Fifty years
ago this week, as Joseph Stalin's Iron Curtain descended
around a free Berlin, the last battleground of a World
War became the first battleground of the Cold War,"
Hamre said. Berlin became a symbol of resolve, defiance
and, ultimately, freedom. Despite overwhelming odds,
Berliners turned fields into runways, enabling American,
British and French planes -- more than 277,000 flights in
all -- to deliver about 2.3 million tons of food, fuel
and medicine. "Some of freedom's darkest days were
transformed into one of freedom's greatest
triumphs," Hamre said of the airlift. Freedom again
triumphed when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in
1989, answering "the hopes of all freedom-loving
people in the world" he said. The spirit of Berlin
lives on as NATO welcomes new members, in Partnership for
Peace, and in new relationships with Russia and Ukraine,
Hamre said. It is alive "as we cool the cauldrons of
hate in Bosnia and try to prevent Kosovo from boiling
over. … The spirit of Berlin -- the spirit of
liberty -- is helping us reach across old divides to
build a new Europe for a new century." Hamre spoke
at the opening of Berlin's new Allied Museum in
Berlin-Zehlendorf. He said the collection of Cold War
remnants "will remind future generations that
freedom is never free." "For decades, Checkpoint Charlie and other allied checkpoints symbolized both the last defense against tyranny and the passageways to freedom," Hamre said. "Checkpoint Charlie now sits in this museum, its job as a guardhouse done. "Now let us commit to build a Europe in which we need no Checkpoint Charlies," he continued. "Let us commit to build a Europe where there is no need for concrete walls and barbed wire to keep people in and ideas out. Let us commit to build a Europe that is itself a gateway to openness and freedom for all humankind. And let us always recall Berlin as the ultimate symbol of that freedom." By Linda D.
Kozaryn |