[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 48 (Thursday, March 19, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WAL-MART BATTLES TO DEVELOP ON BATTLEFIELD

  (Mr. WELCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, 164 years ago brave Texans and brave 
Vermonters fought on an historical battlefield about 60 miles south of 
here, the Battle of the Wilderness. There were 165,000 troops amassed 
there, including Vermonters from the 1st Brigade; and 1,200 from 
Vermont's ranks died. Among them was Daniel Lilly, a teacher in 
Barnard, Vermont. His funeral is still today remembered as the largest 
funeral in the history of that town. Another, Ed Holden, fought and 
survived, but saw his brother with his head shot off die on the 
battlefield.
  Today a different battle is taking place on that hallowed ground. It 
is a conflict between a great American corporation, Wal-Mart, and a 
great American historic battlefield, the Wilderness. My friend from 
Texas and I have joined together to ask Wal-Mart to do the right thing 
and not build its facility, a 140,000-foot facility, on that 
battlefield where troops were massing.
  The question for us is whether we can honor the fallen. And that, as 
my friend will tell you, is just the way it is.

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