[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 146 (Tuesday, November 14, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2100-E2101]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL GROUNDBREAKING

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 14, 2000

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to comment on an important event 
which took place last weekend in Washington. This past Saturday, I 
joined President Bill Clinton, Secretary of Defense William Cohen, 
former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, former Senator Bob 
Dole, motion picture actor Tom Hanks, and more than 10,000 World War II 
veterans and their families for the groundbreaking ceremonies for the 
new World War II Memorial in the Nation's Capital.
  The official groundbreaking ceremony took place at a 7.4 acre site on 
the Mall, halfway between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln 
Memorial. The site for the Memorial had been previously dedicated on 
veterans day in 1995, with construction on the memorial expected to be 
finished by Memorial Day 2003.
  As one of eleven World War II veterans who are current members of the 
House, I was pleased to be able to participate in this ceremony.
  World War II was not only the defining event of our generation, it 
was the most significant event in the history of the world. This World 
War II Memorial is long overdue. It is important that it is completed 
while many of us who participated in the hostilities remain as 
witnesses.
  The ground-breaking ceremony was made possible after the National 
World War II Memorial Foundation successfully raised an estimated $130 
million needed for construction of the memorial. The funds were raised 
entirely from private donations from corporations, veterans 
organizations, school groups, and individuals. This fundraising 
campaign was led by former Senator Dole and Frederick W. Smith, chief 
executive officer of the Federal Express Company.
  ``We have reached a time,'' stated Senator Dole, ``where there are 
few around to contradict what we World War II veterans say. All the 
more reason for the war's survivors, widows and orphans to gather here, 
in Democracy's front yard, to place the Second World War within the 
larger story of America. After today, it belongs where our dwindling 
ranks will soon belong--in the history books.''
  When completed, this World War II Memorial will stand as a permanent 
tribute to veterans of both the European and Pacific Theaters, as well 
as the dedication of the United States to the defense of freedom and 
liberty in the 20th century.
  The original idea for the World War II Memorial originated with 
Representative Marcy Kaptur who introduced legislation establishing the 
memorial in 1987 after a constituent pointed out to her that no such 
memorial had been dedicated up until that point.
  In her remarks, Congresswoman Kaptur (Ohio) stated: ``individual acts 
by ordinary men and women in an extraordinary time bound our country 
together as it has not been since--bound the living to the dead in 
common purpose and in service to freedom, and to life.''
  This World War II Monument, which demonstrates America's dedication 
to the defense of liberty and freedom, will stand in the company of the 
monuments to Washington and Lincoln, its counterparts for the 18th and 
19th centuries, respectively. This World War II Monument is also a 
tribute to the millions of Americans who worked for victory in the war 
effort on the home front.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the full statements of Senator Dole and 
Representative Kaptur at this point in the Record:

   Senator Bob Dole, World War II Memorial Groundbreaking, The Mall, 
                           November 11, 2000

       Thank you very much. Mr. President, Tom, and Fred, and our 
     countless supporters and other guests. I am honored to stand 
     here as a representative of the more than 16 million men and 
     women who served in World War II. God bless you all.
       It has been said that ``to be young is to sit under the 
     shade of trees you did not plant; to be mature is to plant 
     trees under the shade of which you will not sit.'' Our 
     generation has gone from the shade to the shadows so some 
     ask, why now--55 years after the peace treaty ending World 
     War II was signed aboard the USS Missouri--there is a simple 
     answer: because in another 55 years there won't be anyone 
     around to bear witness to our part in history's greatest 
     conflict.
       For some, inevitably, this memorial will be a place to 
     mourn. For millions of others, it will be a place to learn, 
     to reflect, and to draw inspiration for whatever tests 
     confront generations yet unborn. As one of many here today 
     who bears battle scars, I can never forget the losses 
     suffered by the greatest generation. But I prefer to dwell on 
     the victories we gained. For ours was more than a war against 
     hated tyrannies that scarred the twentieth century with their 
     crimes against humanity. It was, in a very real sense, a 
     crusade for everything that makes life worth living.
       Over the years I've attended many a reunion, and listened 
     to many a war story--even told a few myself. And we have 
     about reached a time where there are few around to contradict 
     what we say. All the more reason, then, for the war's 
     survivors, and its widows and orphans, to gather here, in 
     democracy's front yard to place the Second World War within 
     the larger story of America. After today it belongs where our 
     dwindling ranks will soon belong--to the history books.
       Some ask why this memorial should rise in the majestic 
     company of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. 
     They remind us that the mall is hallowed ground. And so it 
     is.
       But what makes it hallowed? Is it the monuments that 
     sanctify the vista before us--or is it the democratic faith 
     reflected in those monuments? It is a faith older than 
     America, a love of liberty that each generation must define 
     and sometimes defend in its own way.
       It was to justify this idea that Washington donned a 
     soldier's uniform and later reluctantly agreed to serve as 
     first President of the Nation he conceived. It was to 
     broadcast this idea that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of 
     Independence, and later as President, doubled the size of the 
     United States so that it might become a true Empire of 
     Liberty. It was to vindicate this idea that Abraham Lincoln 
     came out of Illinois to wage a bloody yet tragically 
     necessary Civil War purging the strain of slavery from 
     freedom's soil. And it was to defend this idea around the 
     world that Franklin D. Roosevelt led a coalition of 
     conscience against those who would exterminate whole races 
     and put the soul itself in bondage.
       Today we revere Washington for breathing life into the 
     American experiment--Jefferson for articulating our 
     democratic creed--Lincoln for the high and holy work of 
     abolition--and Roosevelt for upholding popular government at 
     home and abroad. But it isn't only Presidents who make 
     history, or help realize the promise of democracy. Unfettered 
     by ancient hatreds, America's founders raised a lofty 
     standard--admittedly too high for their own generation to 
     attain--yet a continuing source of inspiration to their 
     descendants, for who America is nothing if not a work in 
     progress.
       If the overriding struggle of the 18th century was to 
     establish popular government in an era of divine right; if 
     the moral imperative of the 19th century was to abolish 
     slavery; then in the 20th century it fell to millions of 
     citizen-soldiers--and millions more on the home front, men 
     and women--to preserve democratic freedoms at a time when 
     murderous dictators threatened their very existence. Their 
     service deserves commemoration here, because they wrote an 
     imperishable chapter in the liberation of mankind--even as 
     their Nation accepted the responsibilities that came with 
     global leadership.
       So I repeat: What makes this hallowed ground? Not the 
     marble columns and bronze statutes that frame the mall. No--
     what sanctifies this place is the blood of patriots across 
     three centuries. And our own uncompromising insistence that 
     America honor her promises of individual opportunity and 
     universal justice. This is the golden thread that runs 
     throughout the tapestry of our nationhood--the dignity of 
     every life, the possibility of every mind, the divinity of 
     every soul. This is what my generation fought for on distant 
     fields of battle, in the air above and on remote seas. This 
     is the lesson we have to impart. This is the place to impart 
     it. Learn this, and the trees planted by today's old men--
     let's say mature men and women--will bear precious fruit. And 
     we may yet break ground on the last war memorial.
       Thank you all and God bless the United States of America.

                                  ____
                                  

  Remarks by the Honorable Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), World War II Memorial 
               Groundbreaking Ceremony, November 11, 2000

       We, the children of freedom, on this first Veterans' Day of 
     the new century, gather to offer highest tribute, long 
     overdue, and our everlasting respect and gratitude to 
     Americans of the 20th century whose valor and sacrifice 
     yielded the modern triumph of liberty over tyranny.
       This is a long-anticipated day. It was 1987 when this 
     Memorial was first conceived. As many have said, it has taken 
     longer to build the Memorial than it took to fight the war. 
     Today, with the support of our veterans service organizations 
     and a small but determined, bipartisan group in Congress, the 
     Memorial is a reality. I do not have the time to mention all 
     the Members of Congress who deserve to be thanked for their 
     contributions to this cause, but two Members in particular 
     must be recognized. Rep. Sonny Montgomery, now retired, a 
     true champion of veterans in the House, and Senator Strom 
     Thurmond, our unfailing advocate in the Senate.
       At the end of World War I, the French poet Guillaume 
     Apollinaire declaring himself ``against forgetting'' wrote of 
     his fallen comrades: ``You asked neither for glory nor for 
     tears. All you did was simply take up arms.''
       Five years ago, at the close of the 50th anniversary 
     ceremonies for World War II,

[[Page E2101]]

     Americans consecrated this ground with soil from the resting 
     places of those who served and died on all fronts. We, too, 
     declared ourselves against forgetting. We pledged then that 
     America would honor and remember their selfless devotion on 
     this Mall that commemorates democracy's march.
       Apollinaire's words resonated again as E.B. Sledge 
     reflected on the moment the Second World War ended: ``. . . 
     sitting in a stunned silence, we remembered our dead . . . so 
     many dead. . . . Except for a few widely scattered shouts of 
     joy, the survivors of the abyss sat hollow-eyed, trying to 
     comprehend a world without war.''
       Yes. Individual acts by ordinary men and women in an 
     extraordinary time--one exhausting skirmish, one determined 
     attack, one valiant act of heroism, one dogged determination 
     to give your all, one heroic act after another--by the 
     thousands--by the millions--bound our country together as it 
     has not been since, bound the living to the dead in common 
     purpose and in service to freedom, and to life.
       As a Marine wrote about his company, ``I cannot say too 
     much for the men . . . I have seen a spirit of brotherhood . 
     . . that goes with one foot here amid the friends we see, and 
     the other foot there amid the friends we see no longer, and 
     one foot is as steady as the other.''
       Today we break ground. It is only fitting that the event 
     that reshaped the modern world in the 20th century and marked 
     our nation's emergency from the chrysalis of isolationism as 
     the leader of the free world be commemorated on this site.
       This Memorial honors those still living who served abroad 
     and on the home front as well as those we have lost: the 
     nearly 300,000 Americans who died in combat, and those among 
     the millions who survived the war but who have since passed 
     away. Among that number I count my inspired constituent Roger 
     Durbin of Berkey, Ohio, who fought bravely with the 101st 
     Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge and who, because 
     he could not forget, asked me in 1987 why there was no 
     memorial in our nation's Capitol to commemorate the 
     significance of that era. I regret that Roger was not able to 
     see this day. To help us remember him and his contribution to 
     this Memorial, we have with us today a delegation from his 
     American Legion Post and his beloved family, his widow 
     Marian, his son, Peter, and his daughter, Melissa, who is a 
     member of the World War II Memorial Advisory Board.
       Only poets can attempt to capture the terror, the fatigue, 
     and the camaraderie among soldiers, sailors, airmen, and 
     marines in combat. This is a memorial to their heroic 
     sacrifice. It is also a memorial for the living to remember 
     how freedom in the 20th century was preserved for ensuing 
     generations.
       Poet Keith Douglas, died in foreign combat in 1944 at age 
     24. In predicting his own death, he wrote about what he 
     called time's wrong-way telescope, and how he thought it 
     might simplify him as people looked back at him over the 
     distance of years. ``Through that lens,'' he demand, ``see if 
     I seem/substance or nothing: of the world/deserving mention, 
     or charitable oblivion . . .'' And then he ended with the 
     request, ``Remember me when I am dead/and simplify me when 
     I'm dead.'' What a strange and striking charge that is!
       And yet here today we pledge that as the World War II 
     Memorial is built, through the simplifying elements of stone, 
     water, and light. There will be no charitable oblivion. 
     America will not forget. The world will not forget. When we 
     as a people can no longer remember the complicated 
     individuals who walked in freedom's march--a husband, a 
     sister, a friend, a brother, an uncle, a father--when those 
     individuals become simplified in histories and in family 
     stories, still when future generations journey to this holy 
     place, America will not forget.

     

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