Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning. What an immense honor it is to mark Memorial Day alongside each of you today. I want to begin by recognizing the many active-duty service members here with us. Thank you for the daily sacrifices you make, the time you spend away from family, the hardships you endure to keep us safe.
I look out and I see the faces of countless veterans and military families - some of whose service only just ended, and some of whom even served on the Intrepid years ago. We are so grateful for all you have done for our nation. Thank you to the Intrepid Museum for hosting this ceremony today, and for the Intrepid's leadership for allowing us to pause here to remember those we have lost. Thank you to Susan Marenoff-Zausner, Ken Fisher, and Mel Immergut. And it's a privilege to be joined by Admiral Karl Thomas, Commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command for the U.S. Navy.
Most of all, I want to take a moment to thank the Gold Star families and all those here today to remember and honor someone who has given their life in service. Let us vow to stand alongside you, our Gold Star Families, not just today on Memorial Day, but every day. On July 4, we will mark 250 years as a nation.
Two hundred and fifty years since we came together as Americans to declare our freedom from tyranny and oppression - 250 years where we have lived in this country side-by-side, working every day to become just a little more free, to fulfill the promise upon which we were founded; that all men are created equal.
As each of us enjoy the fruits of lives of peace and freedom - homes where we are safe at night, children who learn and grow in school - let us always remember that none of this was promised. It was won by sacrifice, and it must be cherished.
Here, at the Intrepid, I can't help but think about all those who stood on this ship before, and what they saw as they steamed for faraway waters.
I think of the sailors on the Intrepid's maiden voyage, standing on deck late at night in January of 1944, heading towards the Marshall Islands.
The lights would have been off, to make her a harder target for Japanese submarines. The Fighting I would likely have been zigzagging for the same reason.
We often forget how young those from whom we ask the most typically are.
Thousands of officers and enlisted men would have been onboard. Many were still teenagers. This was the furthest many had ever been from home.
They hailed from every part of our country - from Alabama and Alaska, from Brooklyn and the Bronx.
With the lights off, they sailed towards a horizon they could not see, to take on the threat of fascism that placed our entire planet at risk.
Some of those sailors never came home. The Intrepid absorbed torpedo impacts and kamikaze attacks, endured flooding and fires. They took a human toll. Men like Donald Domenic DiMarzo, the Intrepid's fire marshal, and Alfonso Chavarrias, a gunner killed by a plane that hurtled into the ship, who never got to grow into old age.
Back home, after each attack, cars pulled up driveways. A solemn knock was heard at the door. A telegram was pressed into a loved one's hand. The toll of freedom has been felt by generation after generation, by loss after loss.
And still, this ship floats. And still, our nation is free. And today, we remember those who made it so, those to whom we hold an obligation that can never be entirely fulfilled - to build a city and a nation worthy of their sacrifice.
I stand before you immensely humbled to serve as the Mayor of New York City - to lead a city from which so many of our citizens have answered the call to serve. And I feel a deep responsibility to the more than 135,000 veterans here in New York City, their families, and our Gold Star Families.
It is a privilege to serve those who have served - and I want to use the trust and power placed in me by the people of New York City to ensure that our veterans and military families receive the services and the support they deserve.
In the wealthiest city in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, we cannot simply accept that so many veterans must live with food insecurity, homelessness, and social isolation. As we mark the solemnity of this day together and remember all those we lost, let us also rededicate ourselves to practicing the values for which they laid down their lives.
Let each of us do our parts to ensure our city remains a beacon of liberty for all, where every person here can live a life of freedom - from cruelty, from oppression, and from want. Thank you.
