[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 31 (Monday, March 1, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         IN HONOR OF ILANA LEVY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 1, 1999

  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a resident of my 
district, Ilana Levy of Westport, Connecticut.
  I had the pleasure of hearing Ilana speak at a Veteran's Day ceremony 
at the Westport Town Hall on November 11, 1998. Ilana delivered a 
speech of tremendous depth and maturity. She was articulate beyond her 
years and all in attendance were moved by her words.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to submit a copy of the text of Ilana's 
speech for the Record of the 106th Congress.

                    Veteran's Day Speech--Ilana Levy

       I have a confession to make. I have studied about World War 
     I and II in history class and I have certainly known about 
     Veterans Day since I was a child. But over the last couple of 
     weeks, I concentrated on the two as I have never before. It 
     probably all started with the movie `Saving Private Ryan'. I 
     went to see it somewhat under protest because I like happy 
     movies. (the fact that Matt Damon was in it did help). I had 
     heard that the movie was gruesome and I did not expect to 
     like it. Well I did not like it. No I do not think I could 
     use the term like with such a movie. What I can say about 
     this movie was it truly affected me. I think it even 
     diminished me in a certain way. I started looking at my life 
     and asking myself what if. What if we did not win the war? 
     What if we did not have men and women willing to fight for 
     America? What if we were no longer free? What if we become 
     more and more apathetic and take certain rights for granted? 
     And that's where the diminishing part came in. Yes. I started 
     looking at myself and my life and realized how much I have 
     taken for granted.
       I am free. Sure I have parents who tell me what to do and 
     give me certain rules to follow. But I am free. When I was 
     little I complained about going to Sunday school but I have 
     that freedom to pray. My relatives were not always that 
     lucky. During World War II Jewish people were killed just 
     because they were Jewish. They were taken to concentration 
     camps just because they were Jewish. I can remember seeing 
     actual footage of the people in the concentration camps when 
     the American soldiers came to set them free. The soldiers 
     were shocked and sickened about what they saw. What if those 
     soldiers had not gone over to Europe to fight Hitler? Who 
     knows what would have happened to the Jews in the world, or 
     to any of us? Hitler's views could have spread and I might 
     not have been standing here talking to you today. How 
     different the world would have been for everyone had our 
     soldiers not believed in fighting for freedom. How grateful I 
     am for the brave men who were willing to sacrifice their 
     lives so that others could live free.
       Saving Private Ryan starts out with the allies storming 
     Omaha Beach. It was during this scene that I began to see 
     what our soldiers actually had to experience. Of course I 
     have seen films on WWII in class but this was different. 
     These scenes made me understand the true horrors of war. I 
     saw the dead, the wounded and the survivors there on the 
     beach. This was truly a scary feeling for me. I have always 
     been lucky enough to be removed from all of the realities of 
     war but there I was--right in the middle of battle. How 
     quickly lives were ended. How quickly other lives were 
     changed forever. I cannot even fathom having to be put in 
     such a position. I don't think I would have the courage or 
     strength to be in a combat situation. I cannot imagine what 
     it must have been like to leave one's families to fight in 
     lands that are unfamiliar knowing that you might never return 
     home to them. I feel such a profound respect and appreciation 
     to all who have served our country. There are certain 
     experiences which change people forever. I have to believe 
     that serving in the army and fighting in a war does that. 
     Watching friends and fellow soldiers die is too awful to 
     imagine. Veterans are true heroes. I live, no we live in the 
     best country in the world. Certainly we have our problems but 
     we are free. I will never take that for granted again. I am 
     young enough to be idealistic and to hope that some day there 
     will be peace in the world. But I am old enough now to 
     understand what Veterans Day really means. I live in America 
     land of the free. And I am free because of all the wonderful, 
     brave heroes who fought to keep us free. I have another 
     confession to make. Today I am celebrating my first real 
     Veteran's Day. But I promise you it will not be the last. I 
     hope it is not too late to say thank you to all for all that 
     you have done for our country. Thank you for serving the 
     United States of America. God bless you, and God Bless 
     America.

     

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