In May 1962, MacArthur, who was weak after a gallbladder removal operation, returned to West Point, where he started his military career, and delivered his famous speech - "Veterans never die, they just slowly disappear." MacArthur's sigh was not so much a vent for his dissatisfaction at being removed from the Korean front by President Truman, but rather the nostalgia and unwillingness of a veteran who had been bound to a heroic complex throughout his life for the glory that was no longer there. After all, honor is the medal of a man's life.