[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 8, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H6201-H6202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE SECTION 60 MOTHERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery 
is a very special place. It holds the graves of soldiers killed in Iraq 
and Afghanistan. Section 60 also is the place where a group of 
remarkable women come together on a regular basis. They are the Section 
60 mothers, the mothers of the soldiers buried in that hallowed ground.
  The Section 60 mothers come to mourn their heroic children, and to 
honor their sacrifice. They also come to give each other support in 
their time of grief. They look to each other for comfort because the 
only person who can really understand a mother who has lost a child in 
war is another mother who has suffered the same loss.
  Recently, National Public Radio broadcast two stories about the 
Section 60 mothers. In those stories, the Section 60 mothers talked 
about their children. They also described how they found each other and 
created a circle of support to help each other, to help each other make 
it through another day.
  Their words are heartbreaking, yet also inspiring, because these 
mothers are American heroes, just like their children. I'd like to 
share some of their words with you today.
  One mother placed flowers, balloons, and cards on her son's tombstone 
because it was his birthday. She said, ``These are our babies. When 
they have a birthday, this is what you do for them, and this is what we 
still do for them.''
  Another Section 60 mother, whose son died 2 years ago, said, ``This 
is my son, and I just cannot believe that he's gone. I don't want him 
to ever be forgotten. It's just in the last couple of months in fact 
that I have been able to say, `My son's death,' and even that sends a 
chill through me.''
  Another mother described the impact of her son's death on her family. 
She said, ``I look at my surviving children, and it's such heartache 
for me because they're in so much pain, and I can't do anything about 
it except just love them. I can't take their pain away. It's 
excruciating.'' This mother's son was killed on May 8, 2005. It was 
Mother's Day.
  Another grieving mother said, ``Our job is to protect our kids, and 
we would do anything to do that. I feel like I should have just jumped 
across the ocean and known that he was in trouble. It's irrational, but 
it's a mom.''
  A mother whose marine son was killed in Iraq in 2005 talked about how 
the mothers are supporting each other. She said, ``We talk and we cry 
about the heartache. Our friendship has just been so incredible and 
different than any other friendship that I have ever known because our 
sons are side by side in that same soil.''
  Another mother whose son was killed in Iraq in 2005 said, ``When we 
go to Arlington, sometimes we are holding the crying mother. And 
sometimes we are the crying mother. You never cry alone at Arlington. 
It's a refuge for me. You cannot be strong all the time.''
  Another mother described the first time she saw another mother in 
Section 60. She said, ``She was just crying and saying, `Our beautiful 
boys.' We just started walking toward each other and we were crying so 
hard.''
  A cousin of one of the soldiers told this story about her fallen 
hero. ``He

[[Page H6202]]

always wore a St. Christopher's medal around his neck. When he died, 
they couldn't find it. But on the day of the funeral, the colonel came 
up to my aunt and said that they had found the St. Christopher's medal. 
When his body was thrown back by the blast, the St. Christopher's and 
his dog tags were in the hole that the bomb was in.''
  Finally, one of the new mothers asked another mother if the pain of 
losing a child in war ever goes away. This mother had to say, ``No.''
  Madam Speaker, we owe the Section 60 mothers our deepest respect and 
gratitude. They remind us that the war isn't something that takes place 
thousands of miles away. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are happening 
to our mothers and families right here in our own communities in 
America every single day.
  So let us resolve to go to war only as a very last resort. Every 
possible alternative to war should always be completely exhausted 
before we send our great men and women into battle. That is the least 
we can do for them and the mothers they leave behind.

                          ____________________