I found this quote in an old JFK memorial paper my grandfather had stashed away. Kennedy had written this as part of a letter to his parents shortly after the PT-109 incident.
"It was a terrible thing though, losing those two men. It brought home how real the war is. People get so used to talking about billions of dollars and millions of soldiers, that thousands of dead sounds like a drop in the bucket. But if those thousands want to live as much as the ten I saw - they should measure their words with great, great care."
For our past and present veterans.