[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 28, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E244-E245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        51ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE FLAG RAISING ON MOUNT SURIBACHI

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 28, 1996

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, last week our Nation commemorated one of the 
most significant events in our history. The capture of Iwo Jima was not 
only one of the bloodiest military confrontations in which our Nation 
was ever involved, but it was also one of the most necessary. This 
barren island was crucial to ensure the success of our bombing missions 
into the heart of the Japanese Empire, and was key to the military 
maneuvers which led to our victory in the Pacific theater of World War 
II.
  Most historians agree that the photograph of six marines raising the 
American flag on top of Mount Suribachi is the most duplicated 
photograph ever taken. To this day, no American can remain unmoved by 
the simple message of heroism and grim determination which that 
photograph so eloquently portrayed.
  Last week, the New York Vets organization conducted solemn ceremonies 
in Rockland County, NY, commemorating the 51st anniversary of that 
significant event. I was honored to have been asked to share my 
thoughts at this ceremony, and would like to share them with our 
colleagues at this time:
  Thank you for inviting me to join with you on this solemn occasion.
  Back in 1936, President Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his 
acceptance speech for his second nomination for President, told his 
audience that our generation ``has a rendezvous with destiny.'' 
President Roosevelt foresaw the war clouds accumulating throughout the 
world, and knew what we would be facing. And, he was correct in his 
analysis of the burdens with which our generation so uniquely had to 
cope.
  When you think about it, no generation in recorded history was 
saddled with responsibilities as awesome as those with which we had to 
grapple. Not only did our generation have to endure the depths of the 
Great Depression--the greatest economic crisis of all time--but it also 
fell to our watch to fight World War II, the most stupendous and 
complex conflict in all of history before or since. World War II was 
the only war in our Nation's history fought on two major and widely 
diverse fronts: the European theater and the Pacific. Very few nations 
ever had successfully tackled the massive burden of a two front war and 
emerged victorious.
  It is befitting that we meet today to commemorate what symbolized 
that war for all people. The capture of Iwo Jima was a pivotal event in 
our efforts. I can personally attest that, on the B-29 bombing missions 
over Japan in which I participated, we thanked God that Iwo Jima was in 
our hands, for several of our missions would not have returned had we 
not had Iwo Jima available for emergency landings.
  It is important that we bring to mind the photograph of the flag 
raising on Mount Suribachi, which most historians contend is the most 
frequently reproduced photograph in all history. It is important 
because it symbolized for the whole world the burdens and the sacrifice 
which our generation had to make.
  Now, despite all of the trials and tribulations of our generation's 
life time, we are being called upon one last time for one last 
sacrifice. We have one last important responsibility to perform for all 
humankind.
  Today the world is replete with revisionist historians: people who 
contend they know more than we do about what we lived through, what we 
witnessed, and what we sacrificed. We have lived to witness the 
phenomenon of our own Smithsonian Institution attempting to assemble a 
display which inform people that we, the United States, were the 
aggressors in our war against Japan, and that we were motivated solely 
by racial considerations. The Smithsonian Museum went so far as to 
assemble a display which, believe it or not, portrayed the sufferings 
of the Japanese people, without once mentioning the cruel Bataan death 
march, or the inhumanity of Japan's POW camps, or their racial 
degradation and enslavement of the Asian and Pacific peoples who Japan 
had temporarily conquered. It did not portray the cruelty of the 
Japanese Government, which demanded not just obedience from their 
people, but actual worship. It did not tell of the dreaded Kamikaze 
pilots, whose eagerness for self-sacrifice struck terror into the 
hearts of many brave Americans.
  It is only through the strong protests of many of our own generation 
that this display was never opened to the public, but that victory was 
only one battle. We have much further to go to win the war.
  We have been reading almost daily of commentators and self-appointed 
historians who contend that the Holocaust never took place. In fact, 
the lack of knowledge of generations 

[[Page E245]]
younger than our own is appalling. In Orange County, NY a few years 
ago, the death of a World War II veteran was recorded in the daily 
newspaper with this incredible line: ``He was a survivor of when the 
Japanese dropped the atomic bomb on Pearl Harbor * * *''
  Our generation has one last task before it.
  The Great Depression, World War II, and the subsequent cold war are 
topped by one final burden: it is our responsibility to bear witness to 
what we have seen and what we have lived through.
  It is important that we tell our youth, our grandchildren, our 
families, and any journalists we encounter of the goals, the ideals, 
and the vision of World War II. It is up to us to bear witness that the 
inhumanity of the Nazi and Imperialist Japanese war machines were not 
just in our imaginations.
  It is incumbent upon us to leave permanent records of the sacrifices 
we made. We know that we cannot depend upon future generations to do 
this.
  Accordingly, we are burdened with this final responsibility.

                          ____________________