[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 96 (Friday, July 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1505-E1506]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF CONCLUSION OF WAR IN THE PACIFIC AND 
HONORING VETERANS OF BOTH PACIFIC AND ATLANTIC THEATERS OF SECOND WORLD 
                                  WAR

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 13, 2005

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I offer my heartfelt support for the House 
Concurrent Resolution 191 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 
end of World War II.
  We are a free and prosperous nation because the Greatest Generation 
defeated tyranny in World War II. We owe them many debts, including 
remembering and teaching new generations of Americans that freedom is 
not free.
  September 2, 2005, will mark the 60th anniversary of the final 
surrender of Japan, which occurred on the USS Missouri. This is a date 
we must remember and commemorate.
  We remember the 16 million Americans who served in the military 
during World War II. We remember 670,000 U.S. casualties including 
400,000 deaths. The Greatest Generation faced some of our Nation's 
darkest hours and emerged victorious. We learn from their courage and 
selflessness. We give thanks for their resolve.
  We remember the sacrifices and struggles of the American soldiers, 
sailors, airmen, marines and members of the Coast Guard in World War 
II. We remember their families at home who prayed for victory and the 
safe return of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and 
neighbors while making their own sacrifices for the war effort.
  We remember those who fought in the Pacific campaigns against the 
Japanese Empire. We remember sea battles in the Coral Sea, at Midway, 
in Leyte Gulf--the greatest naval battle in history--and Lingayen Gulf, 
which turned the tide of the Pacific war and led to ultimate victory.
  We remember Iwo Jima, where more than 7,000 Americans and 20,000 
Japanese died. We remember a battle that raged for more than a month 
between February and March 1945, and we remember the powerful image of 
five marines and one Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Mount 
Suribachi.
  We remember the Battle of Okinawa, the largest sea-air-land battle in 
history, waged between April and June 1945. We remember the 38,000 
Americans wounded, the 12,000 killed or listed as missing, and the more 
than 107,000 Japanese and Okinawan conscripts killed and the 100,000 
Okinawan civilians who died.
  The sacrifice of the Greatest Generation inspires us today. We 
remember with our words, but must also remember with deeds; by fully

[[Page E1506]]

funding and supporting health care for our veterans; by passing and 
implementing a new GI Bill of Rights, which meets the needs of our 
soldiers and veterans in the 21st century; by realizing our troops 
lived with the creed that they would leave no one behind in battle and 
we must leave no veteran behind in addressing wounds suffered on our 
behalf.
  I am proud to support this resolution to commemorate the 60th 
anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Let our prayers be 
filled with thankfulness. Let our words be replete with commemorations. 
And let our deeds be worthy of the sacrifice of the great Americans who 
answered the call in our darkest hours.

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