Memorial For 17 Killed In Cole Blast

President Clinton, members of Congress, top U.S. Navy officers, survivors of the attack on the USS Cole and families of the dead, missing and wounded, gathered for a final salute to the sailors who died while serving their country.

CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts reports under leaden skies at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia, the audience was reminded by Navy Rear Admiral Barry Black that freedom isn't always free. "And that the price we must sometimes pay is exceedingly high," he said.

This time the price was 17 young lives, remembered by the commander in chief for their character and courage.

"Fallen soldiers who rose to freedom's challenge. We mourn their loss, celebrate their lives, offer the love and prayers of a grateful nation to their families."

Most of the sailors injured in the attack in Yemen last Thursday were in attendance. In what seemed a display of defiance, seven arrived by ambulance and listened to the president while lying on mobile hospital beds.

Two who were injured in the attack remain in Germany undergoing treatment.

And Mr. Clinton had a message for the attackers. "To those who attacked them, we say: You will not find a safe harbor. We will find you and justice will prevail."

Mr. Clinton described the unidentified attackers as people who allowed their religious, political, racial, or ethnic views to warp their view of the world.

"For them, it is their way or no way," Mr. Clinton said.

But the president said such people "can never heal or build harmony or bring people together."

"They all had their own stories and their own dreams," said the president, who met with victims' families before the public ceremony. He read each of the 17 sailors' names.

"In the names and faces of those we lost and mourn, the world sees our nation's greatest strength," Mr. Clinton said.

The president, speaking slowly and with emotion, wajoined at the ceremony by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea.

The ceremony was held at the Norfolk Naval Station's Pier 12. Nearby were two of the Cole's sister ships, the destroyers USS Ross and USS McFaul, and the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Eisenhower.

And America's top officers vowed to remember the Cole.

"Those who perpetrated this act of terror should also never forget that America's memory is long, and our reach is longer," said General Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Speaking directly to parents, brothers and sisters and loved ones, the president said: "We are all mindful of the limits of our poor words to lift your spirits or warm your hearts."

The president said the crew of the Cole found common humanity and commitment to their country amid their diversity, and said that bond "must surely confound the minds of the hate-filled terrorists who killed them."

Mr. Clinton asked Americans to ponder the service of troops serving the United States around the world.

"The lives of the men and women we lost on the USS Cole meant so much to those who loved them. They have given us their best," Mr. Clinton said. "Let us give them their meaning."

Defense Secretary William Cohen called the attack an "act of pure evil."

"Death snatched them away in one violent, unsuspecting moment, while they were making sure America and its friends slept easily in a dangerous world," Cohen said.

The president said that over the past several days he had joined the rest of the nation in learning details about the fallen sailors—"their profiles, their lives, their loves, their service."

Mr. Clinton noted that the dead included Electronics Technician 1st Class Richard Costelow, of Morrisville, Pa., who had worked with him in the White House, helping to update its communications system.

"All answered the same call to service and found themselves on the USS Cole headed for the Persian Gulf," Mr. Clinton said.

The avy vowed Wednesday to repair the Cole, but it can never replace the loss.