[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 23 (Wednesday, March 6, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO FALLEN HEROES IN THE WAR ON TERRORISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, it is written that, ``If you owe debts, pay 
debts; if honor, then honor; if respect, then respect.''
  I can think of no more fitting time to apply this verse than today, 1 
day after we as Americans watched the flag-draped caskets of seven U.S. 
servicemen being off-loaded from a C-130 transport plane at Ramstein 
Air Force Base in Germany. We owe these men of the United States 
Special Forces and the 101st Airborne a great debt of honor, a debt 
that words on this floor cannot even begin to repay.
  A century and a half ago, Abraham Lincoln spoke on another 
battlefield where American soldiers had spilled their blood to preserve 
our liberty. In his address, Lincoln charges the survivors of the 
conflict as follows:
  ``It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the 
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly 
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased 
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
devotion.''
  Mr. Speaker, the soldiers who died in the mountains of Afghanistan 
laid down their lives for the same great task as the soldiers at 
Gettysburg, the preservation of our liberty and our very way of life.
  Throughout our history, Mr. Speaker, America has faced enemies of her 
peace and her freedom. Two decades ago, President Ronald Reagan 
encouraged a country beset by terrorism. The words of his first 
inaugural address should steel the resolve of Americans today who face 
a similar intractable enemy.
  President Reagan said, ``As for the enemies of our freedom, those who 
are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the 
highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, 
sacrifice for it, but we will not surrender for it now or ever. And, 
above all else, we must realize no arsenal, no weapon in the arsenals 
of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free 
men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not 
have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.''
  Mr. Speaker, it is especially poignant to me, as I see the sacrifices 
in the 101st Airborne, to reflect that twice in the last 6 months I 
traveled, at the invitation of Major General Richard Cody, to Fort 
Campbell, Kentucky, the home of the Screaming Eagles. There I met with 
officers and enlisted men of that fabled division, perhaps maybe even 
some of the very same soldiers that are coming home in the silence of 
death to their families, men who we can say without a doubt did not 
lack the will or moral courage to preserve our way of life.
  I opened with a scripture verse. Allow me to close with one, Mr. 
Speaker. As we consider the lives of those who have had paid the 
ultimate price to secure our freedom, I am reminded of the verse that, 
``Greater love hath no man than this, that he should lay down his life 
for his friends.''
  And allow me to add these modest words on behalf of the people of 
eastern Indiana and a grateful Nation. To the grieving spouses, 
parents, children, and friends that these heroes have left behind, we 
commend them humbly for their sacrifice as families and for having in 
their midst those who have shown no greater love to that dream which is 
the United States of America.

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