[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 9, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1737-E1738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE TIES THAT BIND

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 9, 2003

  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to submit for the Record a speech 
delivered by Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, Under Secretary General of 
the United Nations and a distinguished resident of Greenwich, 
Connecticut. Ambassador Reed's remarks were made at a ceremony at the 
Greenwich Town Hall commemorating Bastille Day on July 14, 2003.

                           The Ties That Bind

       Citizens of the Town of Greenwich and the French Community 
     of our Town are thankful to be commemorating a date that is 
     both significant and symbolic in the shaping of our two 
     countries.
       Allow me to paraphrase a few words spoken by President 
     George W. Bush on May 30, 2003, during an interview with a 
     French journalist. France and the United States share the 
     same objectives on all vital subjects. Regarding security in 
     our democracies, peace in the world and international 
     commerce, we are largely in agreement. President Bush was 
     echoing those famous words from President Franklin D. 
     Roosevelt: ``no two nations are more closely bound by the 
     ties of history and mutual friendship than the people of 
     France and that of the United States of America.''
       On July 4, 2003 citizens of France deposited a red rose on 
     each of the 60,511 graves in honor of the American soldiers 
     buried in eleven cemeteries, who died in France during World 
     War I and II for the preservation of French freedom.
       We celebrate the sovereignty and dignity of our two nations 
     with our respective national anthems.


                        THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

     Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
     What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
     Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous 
           fight,
     O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
     And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

[[Page E1738]]

     Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
     Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
     O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

                            LA MARSEILLAISE

     Allons enfants de la Patrie
     Le jour de gloire est arrive!
     Contre nous de la tyrannie
     L'etendard sanglant est leve! (bis)
     Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
     Mugir ces feroces soldats?
     Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
     Egorger nos fils et nos compagnes.
     Aux annes, citoyens, formez os bataillons!
     Marchons! Marchons!
     Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!

       In a similar spirit, before the flags of our two nations 
     are raised, let us observe a minute of silence in memory of 
     all those who made the ultimate sacrifice in support of 
     freedom and democracy wherever they may have been.
       Historically, both diplomatically and artistically, the 
     United States and France have been bound. From colonialism 
     and nascent nation status, through peace and conflict, this 
     tandem of nations has relied on one another even during the 
     times where they may not have been on the same page. Our 
     Nations have formed an inextricable bond of liberty, full of 
     the implications that such a condition would warrant: 
     strength, determination and solidarity. My hope is to return 
     to full and fruitful mutual respect.

                          ____________________