Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990                   TAG: 9005130231
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: EMORY                                LENGTH: Medium

WARNER URGES E&H GRADUATES TO SERVE PUBLIC

Warner and many others in his high school senior class had quit school to join the Navy, after the 1944 German attack that lead to the "Battle of the Bulge."

Warner, now a U.S. senator, recalled for 160 graduating Emory & Henry College seniors on Saturday, how he and other recruits "were herded into a large room, a gymnasium just like this one," and a petty officer ordered those unable to read and write to raise their hands.

About a quarter of the young men, mostly 17 and 18 years old, did and the officer said, "Now, you smart so-and-sos, help those who can't read and write to fill out their forms."

"I've never forgotten that experience," he said. It was not only the first time that he was confronted with the reality of others who are uneducated, but also the need to help them.

Warner, who served as secretary of the Navy before being elected to the Senate, told the graduates that they also were among the fortunate - thanks to the work of their teachers, the sacrifices of their parents and other circumstances - and that when they launched their own careers, they also should consider helping others.

"Place the public good above your own private gain," he said.

There is nothing wrong with going into business and making a profit, he said, but employers should also provide their workers with fair health plans, pregnancy leave, time off to care for ill family members and similar benefits.

"That's being responsible," he said. "And do it in your business and don't look to the state government, don't look to the federal government, to do these things."

He also urged the graduates to "take on your share of public service."

He compared low voter turnouts in this country, which just celebrated the 200th birthday of its Constitution, to the nearly 100 percent turnouts in Eastern European countries now tasting the kinds of freedom that the Constitution provides.

"They had to knock down a wall to get here, but they did it. And I say to you that you've got to knock down your wall," Warner said.

There are still walls of racism, dishonesty and greed to be knocked down in this country, he said.

The college conferred honorary degrees on Warner, professor emeritus of history George J. Stevenson and alumnus Ray Lewis White, an author and literary critic.