[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  D-DAY CELEBRATION SALUTE TO VETERANS

                                 ______


                         HON. MICHAEL BILIRAKIS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 5, 1994

  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents, Mrs. Harriet 
Coren sent me a copy of a speech her son-in-law, Kenneth Shear, 
delivered at a reunion. As our country commemorates the 50th 
anniversary of D-day, I want to share this patriotic speech with my 
colleagues. I urge my colleagues to pay special attention to the words 
of Kenneth Shear.

          Speech for D-Day Celebration--Saturday, June 4, 1994

       I am personally honored and proud to be with you this 
     evening in celebrating this reunion of the 228th Field 
     Artillery Unit. I am also humbled by the fact that in this 
     room are Americas' heroes.
       In preparing for these remarks, I was reminded of those 
     comments from our parents whenever we did something, usually 
     acted out in a negative way: our parents would say and rebuke 
     us severely, ``Look what you've done, how could you do such a 
     thing?''
       In looking around this room, I have the temerity to ask you 
     all the same question, only my intent is not to conjure up an 
     image of discipline, but to ask the question with a true 
     sense of wonder and awe. for in asking those questions, the 
     answers become evident. In looking at what you've done, the 
     words simply understate the true reality of our lives, the 
     answer is simple. You followed through on the writings of 
     Jefferson and Madison when they discussed the theories of 
     American democracy. You took the theories and molded them and 
     by your actions, made this country the democracy it is. More 
     than that, you sitting here tonight, are able to see the 
     results of your actions with a perspective of fifty years. 
     And now you are entitled to lean back, smile at yourselves 
     and say what a fine job you've done.
       In the process, however, of providing that collective and 
     well deserved pat on the back, we should pause to remember 
     those who did not return from Europe and those who are not 
     here with us tonight, who must equally share in the credit so 
     richly deserved.
       In a way, the roles set out for you and performed so well, 
     were pretty cut and dried. While horrid and brutal, World War 
     II was an easy war to understand and to follow through on. 
     The enemy was clear; the dangers of failure readily apparent; 
     and the mission was, therefore, truly a straightforward 
     proposition. Dwight Eisenhower, a year later in June of 1945, 
     laid out this proposition as clearly as anyone has ever 
     tried. He said, ``More than any other war in history, this 
     war has been an array of the forces of evil against those of 
     righteousness. It had to have its leaders, and it had to be 
     won--but no matter what the sacrifice, no matter what the 
     suffering, no matter what the cost, the war had to be won.''
       We've not always been so lucky in knowing the clear-cut 
     ramifications of what we're all about when we fight our wars. 
     This began to be seen six years later after D-Day with the 
     Korean action and certainly, with our adventure in Vietnam. 
     But you, and what you did, made us understand how important 
     it was for our country to be united in its efforts and 
     unwavering in our insistence that ruthless totalitarian 
     regimes that threaten our democratic way of life, cannot and 
     must not be tolerated.
       Eisenhower, himself, again, made this clear in a letter to 
     his wife, Mamie, He wrote: ``This war is serious--we'll never 
     preserve our accustomed ways of living in the United States--
     free speech, press, and the right to worship as we please--
     unless we all turn in now and fight and work!'' and Finally, 
     let's remember the tone that was set at the very beginning by 
     President Roosevelt, when in 1941, he broadcast to the 
     nation, and made every one feel, and recognize the stakes at 
     hand. ``We are now in this war. We are ALL in it--ALL the 
     way. Every single man, woman and child is a partner in the 
     most tremendous undertaking of our American history.''
       As America fought, the war became the great leveler. We 
     were all in it and we all suffered its consequences--and we 
     all reaped its benefits. Bullets, shrapnel and bombs did not 
     care one whit who they fell on, who they entered and who they 
     killed. They did not seek out blacks over whites, poor over 
     rich, Jews over Christians. Everyone who fought on our side, 
     fought for the preservation of this democratic state that 
     insured an equal opportunity to life, liberty and the pursuit 
     of happiness, as well equal opportunity to die in its wars, 
     or come home a hero.
       A half century later, we recognize the fact that if World 
     War II was the turning point in American history, then the 
     Normandy invasion was the turning point in World War II.
       And what did we turn to? I ask you all now to stop and 
     think. Think for a moment what the world would be like had 
     you and your buddies not landed on the beaches, or scaled the 
     cliffs, or dropped from the airplanes, or wandered through 
     the hedgerows and meandered through the countryside to Saint 
     Lo and other points in Europe on your way to defeating the 
     tyrant.
       Think.
       Look around the room.
       Picture, if you will, what our lives might be like had you 
     not prevailed.
       Let your thoughts, therefore, be our prayer.
       Let your thoughts be our prayer of thanksgiving to all of 
     those who made this land of freedom possible. A prayer of 
     hope and peace for the future that such a horror may never be 
     witnessed again.
       Look what you've done!
       How does it feel to be America's heroes? Was it the great 
     cause that you fought for that was so extraordinary, or was 
     it the men? Sure, we know the cause was right, but without 
     the men, without YOU and YOUR BUDDIES--buddies such as Sal 
     Peluso, Sid Fischer, Rocco Mandart, Saul Sherman, Joe Nigro, 
     and Don Iseman--it would have remained just that--an idea.
       These were the men who forged a new day through pure blood 
     and guts. These were the men who permit us to sit, relax, 
     reminisce and continue to build our lives and the lives of 
     our children.
       Without these men, there was no cause, and there would have 
     been no tomorrows as we know it, only tomorrows each darker 
     than the previous one.
       As many granite monuments as there are to the men who 
     landed at Normandy, they mean little when compared to the 
     true monument to their dedication and sacrifice--a thriving 
     democracy in which we can pray whenever we want--and whenever 
     we want, speak our minds, print our thoughts and essentially 
     live to our fullest capacities in this community we call 
     America.
       Look at what you've done! You've permitted us, through your 
     efforts, to live a life of freedom.
       Don't you think it's intemperate of me to tell you, our 
     fathers, what you've done? We are the results of your 
     success, yet we were not there, and we did not experience 
     your pain, your terror, your loneliness, and your fear.
       You know the story of your success, better than we. I've 
     been amazed, however, at your personal reluctance to tell us 
     your story. To get this information itself from you was a 
     major effort. But, I think, in retrospect, it is that 
     reluctance to convey the horror of war that is uniquely 
     American.
       We fly the flags, we play our anthems, but we don't like 
     to--nor are we good at, making war appear to be a noble 
     endeavor. There was nothing pretty about being in the midst 
     of what hell must look like. For all of you here, 
     notwithstanding the hundreds of thousands of comrades you 
     fought with, your participation in the war was your own 
     private affair. There are issues that you have been living 
     with for at least fifty years as a result of this war, and 
     some that will forever be your own secrets--and that's the 
     way it should be.
       On the other hand, these reunions provide you with an 
     almost therapeutic safety valve type of experience. As you 
     desire, you can release, and have released memories and 
     issues you have kept all these years; and that, too, is the 
     way it should be. You men have a bond and a set of shared 
     experiences that we, as your children, perhaps, should never 
     know, except as you want us to.
       I feel humbled being among you and I am proud that you have 
     asked me to give you some of my thoughts.
       Finally, I am most proud that one hero here, for the past 
     twenty-five years, has been my personal hero. When our GI's 
     were collectively known as ``Joe,'' they took that model from 
     my personal ``GI Joe''--Joe Coren. A man who wanted nothing 
     more than to provide his wife and children, now that he 
     completed his part of the deed in Europe, to live their lives 
     to their fullest capacities.
       After the war, he came back from Europe and began to pick 
     up the pieces here in Philadelphia. He met Harriet at a 
     dance, fell in love, got married, had two children (in those 
     days--that was the way in which things were done) and lived 
     in modest circumstances, pursuing the American dream that he 
     helped to preserve. He was good to his family and unswerving 
     in his loyalty to his country. He honored me by permitting me 
     to marry his daughter, and I feel, made me his second son. He 
     is our Joe, and he typifies all that was done and all that 
     was right in our endeavors since World War II.
       When God blessed America, it was only because you gave Him 
     the opportunity to do so. And for that, your children and the 
     rest of the world thank you.

                          ____________________