[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6827-S6828]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, nearly 6 years after the worst 
terrorist attacks in American history, we have yet to be hit again on 
our soil. No one would have thought this possible immediately after the 
9/11 attacks. But it is true because America is on offense in the war 
on terror.
  Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the brave men and women of the 
Armed Forces who have made that achievement possible, and to honor 
their sacrifice. Since 2001, over 3,800 Americans have died fighting in 
Iraq or Afghanistan. Over 60 were from Kentucky.
  Our country must honor those who died in the line of duty as well as 
their families. The debt we owe them can never be repaid. I have had 
the honor of meeting many of the families of these servicemembers, and 
I have told them their loved ones did not die in vain.
  Many who fought in the war on terror live to tell their stories, and 
I recently heard one I had like to share involving soldiers from Fort 
Campbell, KY. Four soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry 
Regiment, 101st Airborne Division lived up to the warrior ethos of 
never leaving a fallen or wounded comrade behind.
  The city of Ramadi, Iraq, has seen some of the worst battles between 
coalition forces and the terrorists. One night in March 2006, SGT 
Jeremy Wilzcek, SGT Michael Row, PFC Jose Alvarez and PFC Gregory 
Pushkin, among others, made their way through the city's narrow alleys 
back to base.
  Suddenly Sergeant Row saw two figures run into a house. Immediately 
suspicious, he stopped the team in its tracks just as machine-gun and 
small-arms fire and grenades erupted on the street in front of them. 
The soldiers took cover and returned fire.
  Private First Class Alvarez noticed a fellow soldier had been hit and 
was lying in the middle of the storm of bullets. Without thinking 
twice, he ran into the line of fire and threw himself over his comrade. 
But he was too late. The soldier was dead.
  Private First Class Alvarez kept firing until he had unloaded his 
weapon at the enemy, and then stood up and began to carry the soldier's 
body to a safe area. Sergeant Row provided cover fire, while Sergeant 
Wilzcek and Private First Class Pushkin ran into the firefight to help 
Private First Class Alvarez carry their colleague.
  The three soldiers were nearing cover when two rocket-propelled 
grenades exploded yards away from them, knocking all three down and 
slicing Private First Class Alvarez's knee with shrapnel. But the three 
continued, finally reaching a safe area out of the path of bullets.
  Sergeant Wilzcek and Private First Class Pushkin then ran back into 
the enemy's kill zone several times, rescuing more trapped soldiers. 
Sergeant Row continued to lay down cover fire, even though the same 
explosion that injured Private First Class Alvarez's knee had buried 
shrapnel deep in his elbow. Finally, every soldier made it to a safe 
area.
  They were out of immediate danger. But gunfire all around them made 
clear the terrorists were still out to kill. Sergeant Wilzcek, Sergeant 
Row and Private First Class Pushkin made their way to the roof of a 
building, and with the advantage of the high ground, successfully 
killed, captured or drove off

[[Page S6828]]

the terrorists, enabling the squad to return to base safely.
  This February, now-Staff Sergeant Wilzcek and now-Specialists Alvarez 
and Pushkin were awarded the Silver Star, the third-highest award given 
for valor in the face of the enemy. Sergeant Row was awarded the Bronze 
Star for Valor.
  Their acts of heroism rank them among the finest America has to 
offer. But what I find most amazing is that they are everyday people 
who could be your neighbor, coworker or relative. And we have thousands 
more brave Americans in uniform all willing to do the same.
  So this Memorial Day, remember the courage of our servicemen and 
women, performing extraordinary feats just like the men of Fort 
Campbell. Remember the sacrifice of those who don't make it back home. 
As long as America has fighters of such spirit, we can never be 
defeated on the battlefield.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, we are approaching Memorial Day, a time to 
honor those servicemembers who gave their very lives--what Abraham 
Lincoln described as ``the last full measure of devotion.'' When 
Lincoln spoke those words, he was dedicating a modest ``soldiers 
cemetery'' in a Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg. Today Gettysburg 
and the address Lincoln gave there hold a special place in our national 
memory. In fewer than 300 words, President Lincoln delivered one of the 
most famous speeches in the history of this great Republic.
  In that speech, Lincoln said what was known: that it is good and 
right to dedicate a place to honor the brave servicemembers who rest 
beneath it. But more importantly, he put into words what was felt: that 
the best way to honor the dead is to remember their sacrifices, and 
dedicate our lives to the Nation for which they gave their lives.
  What we now call Memorial Day was begun in the aftermath of that war, 
with two dozen cities and towns across the United States laying claim 
to being the birthplace of what was then called Decoration Day. 
Generations later, America paused in the aftermath of World War I, a 
massive conflict that inspired the poem, ``In Flanders Field,'' about 
the lives the war took and the bond between the living and the dead. 
That poem roused the convictions of an American teacher named Moina 
Michael, who clung to the image of the red poppies in Flanders Field, 
which grew above the graves of World War I servicemembers. Miss Michael 
vowed to ``keep the faith'' with those who had died and to wear a red 
poppy as a sign of that pledge. She recorded her commitment in a poem 
she called ``We Shall Keep the Faith,'' which reads, in part:

     We Cherish, too, the poppy red,
     That grows on fields where valor led;
     It seems to signal to the skies
     That blood of heroes never dies

  Miss Michael spent the rest of her life raising money for veterans 
and survivors in need, by selling red poppies to honor the men and 
women who gave their lives in the service of our Nation. Through the 
sale of poppies made by disabled veterans, she raised approximately 200 
million dollars for veterans and their survivors.
  Today our great Nation steps further into the fifth year of our 
current conflict in Iraq, and our sixth year in Afghanistan. As we 
ponder how best to honor those who have died in these conflicts and in 
all prior wars, we can look to our history to find words and actions to 
guide us. Just as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address turned sentiment into 
prose, Miss Michael turned it into poetry, and then into action. For 
ourselves, we can look at the sacrifices of those who have served and 
then look within ourselves to honor them with our lives.
  For myself, I pledge my continued best effort to make certain that 
those who serve receive the thanks and the benefits and services they 
earned by their service and for those who gave their all, that their 
survivors are likewise given all they need.

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