[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 164 (Sunday, December 18, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H12172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CHRISTMAS 1776

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, one week from today is Christmas, and on 
Christmas in 1776, Americans were at war for freedom. General 
Washington and his colonials crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey 
and defeated the British who were caught celebrating.
  This Christmas Americans are at war for freedom in lands far, far 
away. They, like Washington's men, will not be home for Christmas.
  The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, they say. The price is 
also counted in the cost of human sacrifice. Our troops in Iraq and 
Afghanistan that will never return for another Christmas gave their 
lives for the same ideas that Washington's men gave their lives for. We 
call it freedom. Mr. Speaker, you notice I say gave their lives, not 
lost their lives, because their lives were voluntarily sacrificed on 
the altar of liberty.
  In the War of Independence, 4,600 Americans died, and in all wars for 
freedom, over 1.5 million Americans have died. They gave their youth 
for freedom's future. So, as the church bells ring this Sunday before 
Christmas, let us be reminded of the ring of the Liberty Bell that 
tolls the words: ``Let freedom ring throughout the land.''
  That's just the way it is.

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