Senator Kerry Quotes on Duty (3 Quotes)

This Veterans Day, my mind returns again and again to a flight I took home from Baghdad in August -- and an unforgettable reminder of the obligation we have to all who serve the country we love. As we boarded the C-130, I looked into the cargo hold and saw a simple, aluminum coffin with a small American flag draped over it. We were bringing another American soldier home to his family and final resting place.

I will not lay down and put this narrow, stubborn agenda ahead of our families, ahead of our Constitution, and ahead of our values. We are a proud nation that respects the rights of the minority, values the separation of church and state, and believes in honesty and personal responsibility.

In the middle of the cavernous cargo hold was a simple, aluminum coffin with a small American flag draped over it. We were bringing another American soldier, just killed, home to his family and final resting place. The starkness of his coffin in the center of the hold, the silence except for the din of the engines, was a real time cold reminder of the consequences of decisions for which we Senators share responsibility.