[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 169 (Thursday, November 20, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2355-E2356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    VETERANS MEMORIAL AT THE KOOTENAI COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. C.L. ``BUTCH'' OTTER

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2003

  Mr. OTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of the 
House the creation of a Veterans Memorial at the Kootenai County 
Administration Building in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Former commissioner 
Ron Rankin has spearheaded the effort to pay tribute to Kootenai 
County's brave veterans with memorials honoring their sacrifice.
  The first phase of the Veterans Memorial, dedicated on Veterans Day 
1998, is a striking seven-by-five-foot, 8,000-pound black granite 
monument naming Kootenai County veterans killed in action from the 
Spanish American War through the Vietnam War. Their names are etched in 
large gold letters followed by their branch of service, and the war in 
which they served. ``In God We Trust'' is etched above all the names in 
three-inch gold letters. The monument is strategically placed at the 
main entrance of the new administration building to remind visitors of 
the heroes who gave their lives for our freedom.
  On Memorial Day 1999, the county dedicated 13 unique murals for the 
outside of the new courthouse. The 39-by-42-inch granite plaques depict 
historically significant military events in the 20th century. They are 
reproductions of photographs and paintings that were laser-etched in 
color on polished granite slabs. The first two were completed at a cost 
of $2,000 each while the remaining 11 will have been added at a cost of 
$3,000 each. The scenes include: Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, 
the Battle of Midway, the flag raising on Iwo Jima, Army rangers 
climbing a 100-foot Normandy cliff on ``D'' Day, troops assaulting the 
beach at Normandy, gun ships off the coast of Vietnam, and ``Dust Off' 
helicopters retrieving the wounded in Vietnam. When the entire project 
is completed, there will be pamphlets in the foyer of the new 
administration building describing each scene in detail. The foyer 
already includes interesting information, photos and paintings of our 
heroic armed forces from battle scenes of 20th century wars.
  A Purple Heart Honor Roll now is in place in the courthouse foyer, 
and a wall of gold-framed certificates of veterans who were awarded 
medals of valor will complete the project. The display was dedicated at 
a ceremony on November 10, 2003. The event's keynote speaker was Idaho 
Supreme Court Justice Daniel Eismann, who earned two Purple Hearts and 
three Air Medals during the Vietnam War. I would like to submit the 
speech Justice Eismann delivered at the dedication for the Record.

               Hall of Heroes Dedication--Kootenai County

                (Hon. Daniel T. Eismann, Nov. 10, 2003)

       I first want to commend the citizens of Kootenai County for 
     this impressive memorial to those who have served in the 
     United States military. As a veteran, I thank you. I also 
     commend Ron Rankin, who was the driving force behind this 
     growing monument.
       The words ``Keeping America Free'' on the murals outside 
     summarize the primary mission of the United States military. 
     The freedom we enjoy today did not come cheaply. It was 
     purchased during the Revolutionary War with the blood of 
     American soldiers; for over two hundred years it has been 
     guarded and defended both here and abroad by the blood of 
     American soldiers; and it will be preserved in the future by 
     the blood of American soldiers. In the words of Daniel 
     Webster, ``God grants liberty only to those who love it, and 
     are always ready to guard it and defend it.''
       It is because of our God-given freedom that we are the most 
     prosperous and powerful nation on earth. It is the desire for 
     that freedom that causes many from other countries to flock 
     to our borders. It is envy of that freedom, and the 
     prosperity and power it produces, that causes others to hate 
     and want to destroy us.
       With oceans to our east and west and good neighbors to our 
     north and south, we have for many years felt secure in our 
     freedom. We may even have taken it for granted. No nation on 
     earth could be powerful enough to invade us. The tragic 
     events of September 11, 2001, however, shattered that 
     security. Although the enemies of freedom cannot take ours by 
     force, they showed that they will try to destroy it by fear. 
     Those tragic events confirmed that to preserve our freedom 
     here, we will sometimes have to root out evil and tyranny in 
     other parts of the world. We cannot be truly free unless 
     people around the world are free. The enemies of freedom will 
     always desire to extinguish the beacons of liberty shining 
     around the world, and ours shines the brightest. The tragic 
     events of September 11th also rekindled a deep appreciation 
     and respect for those who have donned the uniform of the 
     United States military.
       We are here today to honor some of those who have helped to 
     preserve our freedom. We have come together to dedicate the 
     Hall of Heroes, to honor those from Kootenai County who have 
     been awarded a medal for heroism while serving in our 
     nation's military. By honoring them, we are not in any way 
     minimizing the sacrifice and contribution of all others who 
     have served in uniform. Any of you who saw the movie ``We 
     Were Soldiers'' may remember the helicopter pilot in the 
     movie whose nickname was ``Too Tall.'' The real ``Too Tall'' 
     is a friend of mine named Ed Freeman who lives in Boise. The 
     movie does not do justice to what Ed actually did during that 
     battle.
       On November 14, 1965, after LZ X-Ray had been closed to 
     helicopters because of intense enemy fire, Ed flew fourteen 
     missions into and out of that landing zone delivering 
     ammunition, water, and medical supplies to the troops on the 
     ground and evacuating 30 seriously wounded soldiers. For his 
     actions, Ed was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, 
     our nation's highest award for heroism. Ed's Medal of 
     Honor was certainly well-deserved, but he could not have 
     made the impact he did without the help of others. He 
     could not have delivered the much-needed ammunition, 
     water, and medical supplies to the men on the ground 
     unless others had worked to have those items waiting at 
     his base to be loaded on his helicopter. Few if any of the 
     seriously wounded soldiers that he rescued would have 
     survived had it not been for the medical personnel who 
     were waiting to care for them.
       The military is a team, with every person doing his or her 
     part. Those of us who served in combat would not have lasted 
     long without others who kept us supplied with needed 
     materiel--weapons, munitions; equipment, fuel, medical 
     supplies, and food--or who equipped and directed the planes, 
     artillery, and ships that rained bombs, missiles, and shells 
     on the enemy. Thus, by honoring those who have been awarded 
     medals for heroism

[[Page E2356]]

     we are in no way forgetting or diminishing the contribution 
     made by all who have faithfully served our nation as members 
     of its armed forces.
       Because we are honoring those whose names will be in the 
     Hall of Heroes, it seems fitting to ask, ``What is a hero?'' 
     The first time someone called me a hero, my reaction was, ``I 
     am no hero. I just did my duty.'' As I have thought about it, 
     however, maybe that is part of what a hero is. It is someone 
     who puts duty above self--someone who exhibits selfless 
     dedication to a noble cause.
       Another characteristic of a hero is courage. But, what is 
     courage? British author C.K. Chesterton aptly described 
     courage as follows:
       ``Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a 
     strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. 
     `He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,' is not 
     a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It might be 
     printed in . . . a drill book. The paradox is the whole 
     principle of courage. . . . A soldier surrounded by enemies, 
     if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire 
     for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must 
     not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and 
     will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then 
     he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his 
     life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must 
     desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.
       In combat, you have no future. You have no past. You have 
     only the present. To survive, you must consider yourself 
     already dead, and then fight with all that is in you to stay 
     alive, and to keep alive those who are fighting alongside 
     you.
       I first learned this truism not long after I started flying 
     as a crew chief on a Huey gunship. As a crew chief, my job 
     was to maintain the helicopter and to be a door gunner when 
     we were flying. One afternoon, as we were returning from a 
     mission, I moved from my normal position literally two 
     seconds before a 51-caliber round tore through my helicopter. 
     Had I not moved, it would have hit me right in the Adam's 
     apple, and would have taken my head off. There was no reason 
     for me to have moved, other than the intervention of God.
       I pondered that event for a little while. Before then, 
     being killed in combat had been an abstract possibility. I 
     now realized that as long as I was flying in gunships, being 
     killed was a distinct probability. Perhaps what was most 
     disconcerting was that the bullet came without any warning. 
     It was like a bolt out of the blue. We were not even in a 
     place where we were expecting enemy fire. I realized that on 
     any given day, I could be killed by one bullet coming without 
     warning out of nowhere. I concluded that I could either worry 
     about dying and get ulcers, or simply choose not to worry 
     about it. I chose the latter course. From that day on, I 
     simply considered myself already dead. Those who have 
     accepted their death need not fear it.
       Certainly, those who willingly risk their lives in combat 
     while fighting for our country are heroes. The people we are 
     honoring today, however, did more than merely risk their 
     lives. The military does not award medals for valor simply 
     for risking one's life. That is expected in combat. I was on 
     a Huey gunship during most of my two years in Vietnam. Our 
     job was to find the enemy and engage them. We did not have 
     any high-tech equipment to help us locate the enemy. Our most 
     sophisticated electronics were our two-way radios. To find 
     the enemy, we simply tried to be an attractive target so that 
     they would shoot at us. We would fly as low as we could, 
     sometimes only a few feet above the ground, over or near 
     places where the enemy may be hiding, trying to draw their 
     fire. Once the enemy opened fire, we would know where they 
     were and could take them on. Having the enemy shoot at us was 
     simply part of our job; it was all in a day's work. That is 
     the same for anyone who serves in combat.
       Those we are honoring today did not merely risk their lives 
     in combat. They went far above and beyond the call of duty, 
     putting then lives at extraordinary risk. They may have done 
     so to rescue wounded or trapped comrades, or to accomplish 
     the mission. Firefights are decided, battles are won, and 
     victory is gained because of soldiers like these--who put 
     themselves at extraordinary risk to save others, to 
     accomplish the mission, and to defeat the enemies of freedom.
       One of God's blessings upon this nation has been that 
     throughout her history, in times of great trials, ordinary 
     people have come forward and done extraordinary deeds. Today, 
     we are honoring some of those people. On behalf of my fellow 
     Americans, I thank them and I salute them.

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