[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 21, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H2664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THANKING WORLD WAR II VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 23, 2002, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, as we prepare to celebrate Memorial Day, 
I would ask that we pause and reflect on what some have called our 
greatest generation. Over 16 million Americans answered the call, and 
now we are losing over 1,000 World War II vets every day. We owe all 
our vets.
  Perhaps one of the greatest tributes was offered by President Ronald 
Reagan when he went to Normandy to observe the 50th Anniversary of that 
amazing invasion. He said, ``Those men of Normandy were men of great 
faith. They had faith that they fought for all humanity. They had faith 
that they fought for a just cause. They had faith in a loving God that 
would grant them His tender mercy on this beachhead, or the next. They 
somehow knew that word of the invasion was spreading through the 
darkness back home. That in Georgia, they were filling the churches at 
4 a.m. That in Kansas, they were kneeling and praying on their porches. 
And in Philadelphia, they were ringing the Liberty Bell.''
  To all our vets, and especially the World War II vets, let us say a 
special thanks to them this Memorial Day.

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