[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 75 (Monday, May 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S6240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         VICTORY IN EUROPE DAY

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today we are commemorating one of the 
proudest days in our history--Victory in Europe Day. World War II was 
no less than a triumph of good over evil. As President Harry Truman 
said, it was ``a solemn and glorious hour.'' Today we celebrate our 
victory over the Nazis--and we honor those who gave their lives in the 
most deadly conflict we have ever seen.
  But most of all, we honor the Americans whose personal sacrifices 
gave us our greatest victory. In Maryland, thousands left factories, 
shops, and farms to fight on the front lines. People like my uncles 
Pete, Fred, Richard, and Florene. We also honor those on the homefront 
who kept the steel mills and shipyards going 24 hours a day to serve 
the war effort. That includes the women--the Rosie the Riveters who 
kept America going while our boys fought on the battlefields.
  Eleanor Roosevelt said that those days were no ordinary time and that 
no ordinary solutions would be sufficient to defeat the enemies of 
America and Western civilization. No only was this no ordinary time, 
this was no ordinary generation.
  I was a child during the War. I grew up seeing the heroism and 
patriotism of our soldiers--and seeing America united behind a common 
goal. I saw the sacrifices that individuals were willing to make for 
our country. That was the only America I knew.
  Our veterans of World War II are each a symbol of the principles that 
have kept this country strong and free. When we think of our veterans, 
we think of everything that is good about this country--patriotism, 
courage, loyalty, duty and honor. Our responsibility is to live up to 
the standards they have set--to foster a new sense of citizenship and a 
new sense of duty.
  That is why it troubles me that too often, young Americans do not 
learn enough about this special generation. It is our responsibility to 
honor our Nation's veterans--not just on V-E Day--but every day. Let us 
honor them in our homes, our schools, our churches, and our synagogues. 
And here in the U.S. Senate--when we set funding for veterans health 
care and pensions.
  Every day that we live in freedom, we should remember that their 
triumph was democracy's greatest victory.


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