By the Stars

In the little Massachusetts town of Longmeadow, two great U.S. soldiers met last week. One was the Army's Chief of Staff Omar Bradley. The other was Corporal Edward George Wilkin, Congressional Medal of Honor winner, who died in action three years ago in Germany. His body had been brought home at last for reburial on Memorial Day. Standing beside the funeral caisson, General Bradley spoke a few quiet words of tribute. Then, to a nation which often before has forgotten its history, he delivered a reminder and warning:

"Wars can be prevented just as surely as they are provoked and therefore we who fail to prevent them must share in guilt for the dead . . . We must not forget that the roots of conflict flourish in the faults and failures of those who seek peace just as surely as they take shape from the diseases and designs of aggressors . . . We cannot feign innocence through indifference or neglect of struggles that bring on wars . . .

"Either we shall employ our strength, power and conscience boldly and righteously in defense of human dignity and freedom or we shall waste those reserves for peace and default to the forces that breed new wars ... If the United States ever again stoops to expedients ... if we cringe from the necessity of meeting issues boldly ... if we are to scamper from crisis to crisis, fixing principles and policies to the change of each day, we shall place ourselves supinely and helplessly at the mercy of any aggressor who might play on our public opinion and decimate our forces at will.

"The United States has matured to world leadership; it is time we steered by the stars, not by the lights of each passing ship."

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