[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 60 (Wednesday, May 13, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             50TH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN LEGION POST #1172

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                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 13, 1998

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 50th 
Anniversary of American Legion Post #1172 in Evansville, Illinois. On 
Memorial Day, the Post will hold a special program in honor of this 
milestone.
  While celebrating its 50th anniversary, Post #1172 will also be 
honoring several members for fifty years of continuous membership. 
Members recognized at the ceremony will be: John H. Bauer, Herbert 
Diercks, Clarence Jany, Edgar Kisro, Ralph Moll, Michael R. Otten, Glen 
U. Simpson, and Charles Suhre. John H. Bauer and Edgar Kisro both have 
the additional distinction of being charter members of Post #1172.
  It is fitting that the Post hold this celebration on Memorial Day. 
Memorial Day is traditionally a special day for the members of the 
American Legion, and for our nation. It is a day for people across the 
nation gather to honor brave men and women who gave their lives so that 
we may live in freedom. Members of Post #1172 are proud of that 
service. Today, we honor their sacrifice on our behalf as well as 
joining them in celebrating this special anniversary.
  Southern Illinois has a strong tradition of honoring the soldiers who 
have defended our honor and our nation. At its earliest inception 
Memorial Day was known as Decoration Day. Major General John A. Logan, 
of Illinois, declared the first national Decoration Day in 1868 to 
honor the war dead. A stone in a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois 
states that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there in 1866.
  General Logan ordered soldiers' graves to be decorated with these 
words: ``We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. Let no 
neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming 
generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and 
undivided republic.''
  General Logan's words are as true today as they were 130 years ago. 
As Southern Illinois continues this fine tradition of observing 
Memorial Day, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring American 
Legion Post #1172 and all of our nation's veterans.

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