[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 21, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2667-H2668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MEMORIAL DAY MEMORIAL

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I come to the well here to express my 
concerns that Memorial Day is losing its true meaning. It has 
degenerated into a day

[[Page H2668]]

where only token nods of the head toward our honored dead are given, if 
at all.
  Many people do not know that at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day, we should 
take a moment of silence in recognition for the lives lost for 
freedom's sake. But we cannot blame the American public. After all, it 
was Congress that made the day into a 3-day weekend in the early 1970s. 
By comparison, Mr. Speaker, Veterans' Day is celebrated on November 11, 
regardless of which day of the week it falls on, and Memorial Day 
should also be the same.
  Mr. Speaker, in honor of the thousands of men and women who have 
given their lives fighting for the freedom we enjoy today, and those 
currently fighting for the freedom we will enjoy tomorrow, let us 
restore Memorial Day to its original date, May 30. We owe our loved 
ones and friends who died in service to our country a restored Memorial 
Day.

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