Remarks for RADM Jerry Ellis
Oceanographer of the Navy
Matthew Henson Remembrance Ceremony
Arlington National Cemetery, 21 Nov 1998
Thank you, Capt. Morrison. Vice
Admiral Perkins, Rear Admiral Black, Mr. Grosvenor,
Dr. Counter, Members of the Henson Family, Members of
the Peary Family, Fellow Flag and General Officers
and other Military personnel, Naval Attaches and
Representatives of Foreign Nations, Master of the
USNS HENSON,
Ladies and Gentleman...
What a beautiful Navy day for Matthew
Alexander Henson! I am honored to be the host of this
ceremony today, along with the Naval Order of the
United States, and I welcome you all here as we share
publicly some very special memories of Matt Henson. 
If you didn't know Matthew Henson
before this, it is evident from the remarks we just
heard from all the distinguished speakers before me,
that Henson's legacy deserves to be in the forefront
of our consciousness when we recall true American
heroes.
Following this ceremony here, it is
with great pride that the Navy presents to some of
you for the first time the oceanographic survey ship
named for him, the USNS HENSON.
We in the Navy are proud to give
tribute to American heroes by christening ships in
their names in perpetuation of the legacies they've
left us.
We do it so that we might not forget
those men who should not be forgotten.
We do it to recall their deeds, to
celebrate their genius, to revel in their triumphs,
to lament their loss.
We do it to pay homage to countless
acts of valor.
We do it because we should do
it.
It was a proud and stirring moment
yesterday morning as we watched a great new ship
slowly making her way up the Potomac, carrying the
Henson Family on board. “A Hero's Ship Comes
In” was the headline in the Baltimore Sun.
When this ship leaves us to sail the oceans of the
world, it will carry on it the spirit of a remarkable
man:
probing the secrets of the oceans and
seas, attempting to understand them, collecting
oceanographic data, and making them available both to
the Navy so that we can be protected by the sea, and
to the nation so that other scientists can benefit
from them.
It will carry the spirit of a man of
whom Admiral Peary said: “He must stay with
me. I cannot get along without him.”
It will carry the spirit of a man
whom the Inuits of Greenland called “the kind
one.”
It will carry the spirit of a man of
whom fellow team member CDR MacMillan said, “He
was of more real value than all the rest of us put
together.”
It will carry the spirit of the man
who stood first at the world's northernmost point of
land, who held the American flag at 86 degrees, 6
minutes north, who suffered the hardships of that
frightful march to the North Pole, when dogs were
used for food, and sledges burned for fuel.
But this ship will also carry in it
the hearts of the Henson Family Jim, Audrey, and
Olive and their children, and their children's
children, who will, therefore, always be a part of
it, too.
This is the legacy the explorer
Matthew Henson leaves us.
This morning, we stand on the
hallowed ground where thousands of heroes are buried.
From all of them we can learn something and the
greatest of these is this: that as Americans,
regardless of our races, our religions, and our
heritages we can rise up, we can be “the kind
ones”, we can be “better than all
the rest put together,” we can be heroes.
A hero like Matthew Alexander Henson.
Thank you very much for joining us
here today.