[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 68 (Friday, May 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE VETERANS WHO SERVED DURING WORLD WAR II, THE AMERICANS 
 WHO SUPPORTED THE WAR, AND CELEBRATING THE COMPLETION OF THE NATIONAL 
                         WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL

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                               speech of

                             HON. RON KIND

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 11, 2004

  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 409, which 
recognizes the 16,000,000 Americans who served in the armed forces 
during World War II and the millions more who supported them at home. 
As the dedication of the National World War II Memorial and the 60th 
anniversary of D-Day approach, our country will rightfully be thinking 
of those Americans who bravely gave or risked their lives to a great 
cause.
  I remain in awe of this generation, of men who accepted the call to 
travel around the world to spend years fighting in the Asian and 
Pacific theaters, and of women who kept the country running by assuming 
jobs in factories, growing victory gardens, and serving overseas in the 
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and other capacities.
  It has been my good fortune to spend some time with veterans and 
their families in my home district of western Wisconsin, and I always 
enjoy hearing their stories of wartime. In fact, it was the experience 
of listening to my uncle, a World War II veteran, that inspired me to 
introduce legislation creating The Veterans Oral History Project. 
Almost four years after becoming public law, the Veterans History 
Project at the Library of Congress has collected 16,000 stories and is 
working at a feverish pace to collect more everyday. This living legacy 
is testament to the millions of Americans who sacrificed so much during 
World War II.
  Now, almost 60 years after the end of the war, a monument has at last 
been built in our nation's capital that pays tribute to the generation 
that fought and won World War II. The monument, set in the middle of 
the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, 
will remind all visitors to the city that World War II was the defining 
event of the 20th Century and the seminal point for what is often and 
aptly called ``the Greatest Generation.''

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