History has a way of reviving events in a wholly different mood from that in which they took place. I shall not belabour the obvious Corregidor legend, but it is worthwhile to point out one or two features which deserve emphasis.

                One of the most dramatic aspects of Corregidor is that it completed a full cycle in which the two belligerents reversed the roles of defense and assault. Each garrisoned the fortress against overwhelming odds, and each attacked it with overpowering forces. These events offer an interesting study in contrasts, from which the tremendous superiority of American tactics, methods, and characteristics is clearly demonstrated.

                In 1942 the American garrison made its epic defense of the island, outnumbered, outgunned, unsupported, and deprived of any hope of relief, our men held the post for four bitter weeks after Bataan's fall. Amid th' encircling gloom,  men fought on here with unfaltering devotion. Long after they knew that victory would be denied them, they hung on out of pure loyalty to the ideals of their birth.

Ultimately, they were surrendered in a forlorn hope of humanitarian treatment. In the three years that followed, many became heroes, and a few, a too precious few, became survivors.

                In 1945, when America returned as an attacking force, the positions were amazingly reversed. The island was taken in less than two weeks.  The depths of defeat were vindicated, at last, by an equally spectacular victory. In both extremes, citizens in uniform demonstrated their capacity to meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters both the same.  They fought to bring back with them something more glorious than triumph. They brought back the hope of an American peace, "Pax Americana."

                Perhaps it is best that the realities of Corregidor might merge into a legend of supreme self-sacrifice and invincible accomplishment.  Today the sons and daughters of America, like their fathers and grandfathers,  face the reality of a new war, a war intended to defeat the liberty of thought.