道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟
背景介绍
道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟是美国著名军事家，陆军五星上将，二战时期美国远东军司令，太平洋战争后“联合国军”最高统帅。于1962年5月12日在西点军校接受塞耶荣誉勋章时发表了生平最后一次演说。
Douglas MacArthur: Thayer Award Address
May 12th, 1962, West Point, NY
道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟：塞耶荣誉勋章致辞：责任、荣誉、国家
1962年5月12日，纽约，西点军校
General Westmoreland, General Groves, distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the Corps:
As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, “Where are you bound for, General?” And when I replied, “West Point,” he remarked, “Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before?”
No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this (Thayer Award). Coming from a profession I have served so long, and a people I have loved so well, it fills me with an emotion I cannot express. But this award is not intended primarily to honor a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code —the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent. That is the animation of this medallion. For all eyes and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the American soldier. That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride and yet of humility which will be with me always: Duty, Honor, Country.
Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.
Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean. The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.
But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation’s defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid. They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
They give you a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.
And what sort of soldiers are those you are to lead? Are they reliable? Are they brave? Are they capable of victory? Their story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man-at-arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefield many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then as I regard him now —as one of the world’s noblest figures, not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless. His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give.
He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy’s breast. But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements. In 20 campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of his people. From one end of the world to the other he has drained deep the chalice of courage.
As I listened to those songs, in memory’s eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs, on many a weary march from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle-deep through the mire of shellshocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.
I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always, for them: Duty, Honor, Country; always their blood and sweat and tears, as we sought the way and the light and the truth.
And 20 years after, on the other side of the globe, again the filth of murky foxholes, the stench of ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts; those boiling suns of relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storms; the loneliness and utter desolation of jungle trails; the bitterness of long separation from those they loved and cherished; the deadly pestilence of tropical disease; the horror of stricken areas of war; their resolute and determined defense, their swift and sure attack, their indomitable purpose, their complete and decisive victory —always victory. Always through the bloody haze of their last reverberating shot, the vision of gaunt, ghastly men reverently following your password of: Duty, Honor, Country.
The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong.
The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training —sacrifice.
In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his maker gave when he created man in his own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the divine help which alone can sustain him.
However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.
You now face a new world —a world of change. The thrust into outer space of the satellite, spheres, and missiles mark the beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind. In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a more abrupt or staggering evolution. We deal now not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We are reaching out for a new and boundless frontier.
We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tides work for us; of creating unheard synthetic materials to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; to purify sea water for our drink; of mining ocean floors for new fields of wealth and food; of disease preventatives to expand life into the hundreds of years; of controlling the weather for a more equitable distribution of heat and cold, of rain and shine; of spaceships to the moon; of the primary target in war, no longer limited to the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations; of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy; of such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of all time.
And through all this welter of change and development, your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable: it is to win our wars.
Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment. But you are the ones who are trained to fight. Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be: Duty, Honor, Country.
Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men’s minds; but serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation’s war-guardian, as its lifeguard from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiator in the arena of battle.
For a century and a half you have defended, guarded, and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.
Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be. These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.
You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation’s destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.
This does not mean that you are war mongers.
On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.
But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.
Always there echoes and reechoes: Duty, Honor, Country.
Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps.
I bid you farewell.
译文：
尊敬的魏摩兰将军，格罗夫斯将军，尊贵的客人们，各位学员：
今天早晨，当我走出旅馆时，看门人问道：“将军，您上哪去？”一听说我要去西点，他说：“那是个好地方，您从前去过吗？”
这样的荣誉是没有人不深受感动的。长期以来，我从事这个职业，又如此热爱这个民族，能获得这样的荣誉简直使我无法表达我的感情。然而，这种奖赏主要并不意味着对个人的尊崇，而是象征一个伟大的道德准则——捍卫这块可爱土地上文化与古老传统的那些人行为与品质的准则。这就是这个大奖章的意义。无论现在还是将来，它都是美国军人道德标准的一种体现。我一定要遵循这个标准，结合崇高的理想，唤起自豪感，同时始终保持谦虚。
责任、荣誉、国家。这三个神圣的口号，庄严地指出你们要做的，你们能做的，你们将做的。这是你们振作的起点，当勇气快消失的时候，由此建立起勇气；当信心快失去的时候，由此恢复起信心；当希望将渺茫的时候，由此点燃起希望。
遗憾的是，我既没有流利的词句，诗人的幻想，又缺少生动的比喻，来向大家说明它们的意义。没有信仰的人们会说：这不过是空话，不过是口号，不过是华丽的辞藻而已。每一个徒尚空谈的人，每一个政客，每一个犬儒之徒，每一个伪君子，每一个惹是生非的人，还有，我很遗憾地说，一些完全与我们不同品格的人，将试图把它们贬损到虚伪与可笑的程度。
但是，它们却自有其建树。它们建立了你们的人格。它们将你们陶冶得足以担当未来保护这个国家的卫士。它们使你们在软弱时能够坚强不屈，畏惧时能够有勇气面对自己。它们教你在公平的失败中要自豪而不屈，成功时却要谦逊而温和；实践力行而不徒尚空谈；面对困难和挑战的刺激与压迫而不寻求逸乐；学着怎样在风雨中站立起来，却同情那些跌倒的人们；要自制而后制人；心灵要纯洁，目标要高尚；学着欢笑，但永不忘记如何哭泣；勇往直前，但不忽略过去；举止庄重，但不过分严肃；要谦和为怀，才能记住真正伟大的单纯；要有真知的头脑，也要有实力的谦和。
它们可以给你们一种稳健的意志，幻想的气质，强烈的感情，生命的潜力，克服怯懦的优越气势，舍弃逸乐而偏爱冒险的欲求。它们在你心里建立起好奇的意识，永不熄灭的进取希望以及生命的愉悦与启示。它们就这样教你如何成为一个军官和君子。
你要统率哪一种士兵呢？他们可靠吗？他们勇敢吗？他们能获胜吗？他们的故事，你们都知道。那是美国战士的故事。我对他们的印象，建立于许多许多年以前的战场上，而且从未改变。他们是世界上最高尚的人物，过去我认为如此，现在我仍认为如此；不仅认为他们是最优秀的军事人员，同时也认为他们是最纯洁的。他们的名望与声誉，是每一个美国公民与生俱来的权利。在他们年轻力壮的时候，他们奉献出了人类所能奉献的热爱与忠诚。
他们无需我来褒扬，也不需要别人的赞颂。他们已写下了他们自己的历史，血淋淋地写在敌人的胸膛上。可是，当我想到他在灾难中的坚忍，在战火里的勇气，在胜利时的谦虚，我满怀的赞美之情不禁油然而生。他在历史上已成为一位成功爱国者的伟大典范；他在未来将成为子孙认识解放与自由的教导者；现在，他把美德与成就献给我们。在数十次战役中，在上百个战场上，在成千堆营火旁，我曾亲眼看到那永恒的坚毅，那忘我的爱国忠诚以及那不可战胜的坚定决心，这些气质已使他们同胞的心上刻下了他们的影像。从天涯到海角，他们曾深深地干了勇气之杯。
每当我听着那些纪念的歌声，我的记忆就浮现眼前第一次大战中那些蹒跚的行列，背负着潮湿的背包，疲惫地长途跋涉，从落雨的黄昏到细雨的黎明，在弹痕斑斑泥淖四布的道路上淹没了脚踝；凄凉地准备攻击，嘴唇发青，满身泥泞，在风雨中颤抖着，奔向目标，而就有许多人，到上帝那里接受审判去了。
我不知他们生时的尊严，但我深知他们死时的荣耀。他们毫不迟疑地死去，毫不抱怨地死去，满怀信心地死去，口角上仍挂着希望，希望我们继续争取到胜利。他们一直信奉的是：责任、荣誉、国家。是他们的血汗泪流为我们开启了道路、光明与事实真相。
而二十年后，在地球的另一边，再度是肮脏的散兵坑，恶臭的阴沟，泥泞的战壕，灼热的太阳，倾盆的豪雨，森林小径的寂寞与全然隔绝，那些被爱着的人们长期分离的痛苦，热带致命的疫疠，战区袭击的恐怖。他们那坚强的防御，他们那迅速而准确的攻击，他们那不屈的意志，他们那完全而确定的胜利——终会胜利，总是经由最后反击流血的朦胧。那些憔悴苍白的人们，虔敬地追随着你们的口号：责任、荣誉、国家。
这几个词包含着最高的道德准则，并经得起那些用来提高人类道德水平的伦理观念或哲学思想的检验。准则要求我们做正确的事，不要做错误的事。
一名品德高尚的战士所要践行的就是牺牲，这是信仰中最伟大的修炼。
在战斗中，当面对危险与死亡时，他所体现出的神圣品质，不正是造物主在创造人类时所赋予他的吗。这种精神一直在支撑着他，任何体能和本能都替代不了。
无论战争如何恐怖，战士们随时准备着为国捐躯，这是人类多么崇高的精神。
你们现在面对着一个新的世界，一个变动的世界。卫星和飞弹进入太空，标明了悠久的人类历史中另一个时代的开始——太空纪元。科学家告诉我们，费了五十亿年或者更多的年月，才形成了地球；在三十亿年或者更多的年月中，才发展出了人类，再没有比现在的进展更突然更巨大的了！我们现在不仅要处理世界上的事物，同时要探讨宇宙中无限的距离与尚未发现的秘密。我们现在正迈向一个没有边际的新境界。
我们谈论着不可思议的话题：控制宇宙的资源；让风力与潮汐为我们所用；制造出前所未有的合成材料以补充甚至是代替原有的基础材料；净化海水以供我们饮用；开发海底以建立新的资源和食品基地；预防疾病以延长人类寿命；调节气候以控制冷热、晴雨；研制宇宙飞船以登陆月球；所谈的战争基本目标，不限于敌人的军队，而同时也包括敌人的民众在内；谈着人类与另一个星球上邪恶势力的最后衡突；诸如此类的美梦与幻想，已使我们的生命空前令人振奋。
在所有这些发展与变化之中，你们的任务仍是不变的、坚定的、神圣的，那就是：打赢我们的战争。
你们事业中的其他一切，都是为了完成这一重大奉献。所有其他的共同目的，所有其他的共同计划，所有其他的共同需要，不论大的或小的，自会有人完成；但你们却是受训练来作战的。你们的职业是军事，你们的意志是战胜，你们要知道：在战争中，胜利是没有代替品的；如果你们失败，国家就要灭亡；你们服务大众的基本信条就是：责任、荣誉、国家。
其他的人，自会去辩论争议性的国内与国际事端。但你们却要沉着地、镇静地、超然地站在保卫国家的岗位上，在国际纠纷的狂流中作国家的救生员，在战场上作国家的斗士。
一个半世纪以来，你们已经保卫了、防御了、护持了它那自由与独立、公理与正义的神圣传统。
让文人们去争辩政府措施的良窳，我们国力的衰微，是否由于长期赤字的负累？联邦专制主义者的自大？权力集团的猖狂？政治的过分腐化？罪恶的过分猖獗？民心的过于低落？赋税的过分提高或极端分子的过分狂暴？另外，我们的个人自由是否像应有的那么确定而完整？这些国家大事，无需你们这一行介入，也不必使用武力解决。路标正如同夜间十倍亮度的灯塔一般，竖立在那里，指引着你们的方向——责任、荣誉、国家。
你们是将我们整个国防系统纳入一体的操纵杆。从你们的行列中，产生出伟大的将领，在战钟响时，掌握国家的命运，西点军校的同学们从未使我们失望过。如果你们要那样做，就会有一百万个幽灵，穿着草绿色的呢衣，穿着棕色的、蓝色的、灰色的卡其，从白十字架上跳出来，怒吼着喊出神魔般的铭语：责任、荣誉、国家！
这并不是说你们都是好战之徒。
正好相反，军人比别人更祈求和平，因为他们必须承受战争的最深创伤与疤痕。
我们的耳际常会响起圣哲柏拉图的名言：“只有死者曾经看到战争的结局。”
我的生命已近黄昏，暮色已经降临，我昔日的风采和荣誉已经消失。它们随着对昔日事业的憧憬，带着那余晖消失了。昔日的记忆奇妙而美好，浸透了眼泪和昨日微笑的安慰和抚爱。我尽力但徒然地倾听，渴望听到起床号吹起的微弱而迷人的旋律，以及远处战鼓急促敲击的动人节奏。我在梦幻中依稀又听到了大炮在轰鸣，又听到了滑膛枪在鸣放，又听到了战场上那陌生、哀愁的呻吟。
然而，晚年的回忆经常将我带回到西点军校。
我的耳旁回响着，反复回响着：责任，荣誉，国家。
今天是我同你们进行的最后一次点名。但我愿你们知道，当我到达彼岸时，我最后想的是学员队、学员队、还是学员队。
现在我向你们道别了。