Consul General

Naturalization Ceremony

Consul General Eric Nelson

Munich, May 29, 2007
As prepared for delivery

It is a pleasure to welcome you today to the American Consulate General in Munich.  Every year we issue thousands of visas to visit America, and thousands of passports to Americans.  Today is the first time we are participating in the naturalization of new American citizens, fifteen to be exact.

It is a rare and very special opportunity for us.  The opportunity to become naturalized overseas is reserved for active duty members of the U.S. armed forces. 

In a naturalization ceremony, you would expect to hear about the values of duty, honor and loyalty to the United States of America.  By your service in the armed services of the United States, you, our candidates today, have already demonstrated duty, honor and loyalty to America -- more than many other Americans. 

You understand better than most Americans the value of freedom.  We thank you especially for your contribution to defending the freedoms enjoyed by all Americans. 

This Memorial Day, the Wall Street Journal noted in an editorial the tremendous contributions of the many soldiers, sailors and airmen who are not yet American citizens.  Today, they number 40,000, or five percent of enlisted personnel.  Of special note, twenty percent of all Medal of Honor recipients have been immigrants to America. 

Today you will swear an oath “to support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”  These are duties you already fulfill in your daily work. 

Today, you will add a new title to your name, the title of “American citizen”.  In the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, “The only title in our democracy superior to that of President is the title of citizen.”

You represent nine countries from all points on the globe: 

Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, Mexico, Philippines, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Panama and China. 

President Woodrow Wilson said, “We opened our gates to all the world and said: “Let all men who want to be free come to us and they will be welcome.”

Your choice today honors the choice made by millions of Americans before you.  Your choice makes America an even stronger nation. 

President John F. Kennedy called this “the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore new frontiers, people eager to build lives for themselves in a spacious society that did not restrict their freedom of choice and action.”

As soon as you become citizens, you will have an important new duty.  A duty and a right I hope you will never take for granted.  I’m talking about the right to vote.  To help you fulfill this duty, we have prepared for you packets that include information to help you register as a voter.  We’ve also included an application for your first American passport.

Thank you again for your service, and thank you again for committing yourselves to the United States of America.