[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 83 (Thursday, June 9, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S3677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         FLANDERS FIELD ADDRESS

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, on May 29 our colleague, the senior 
Senator from Vermont, commemorated Memorial Day with a visit to 
Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial in Waregem, Belgium. The 
Flanders region, of course, was made famous by Canadian physician and 
LTC John McCrae, who wrote the poem ``In Flanders Fields'' on May 3, 
1915, after he witnessed the death of his friend, LT Alexis Helmer, 22 
years old, the day before. While Senator Leahy visited the cemetery, 
which serves as a resting place for many American soldiers killed 
during World War I, he made brief but eloquent remarks in honor of 
those brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for 
freedom and justice. His remarks follow and I commend them to my 
colleagues and everyone else who reads the Congressional Record as a 
most fitting Memorial Day tribute:

       We are gathered in a cemetery consecrated by the sacrifice 
     of soldiers of our countries who died in the final days of 
     what, in their time, was called the ``Great War'' and ``The 
     War To End All Wars.''
       It was a battle so fierce that almost a century later, as 
     we gaze across their places of rest, we can still feel their 
     valor and their anguish. These crosses, row on row, carry 
     remembrance forward, and so does the annual reappearance of 
     the poppies in these fields.
       Like the Vermonters who have fallen in Afghanistan and 
     Iraq, and their numberless comrades in conflicts before and 
     after the strife of these nearby battlefields, these brave 
     soldiers made no appointment with death. We hail these fallen 
     patriots for braving the violence and tragedy of war.
       But more than that, we honor our fallen here because they 
     sacrificed all for a cause larger than themselves--defending 
     humanity, freedom, and the ties of family and friendship that 
     irrevocably bind our countries together.
       They were of a generation of Americans, Belgians, British, 
     and French who fought, shoulder to shoulder, and gave their 
     all so we and others could live in freedom.
       Four of them were sons of the states of Alabama and Iowa, 
     which two of my Senate colleagues, who are here today, 
     represent.
       I am the second United States senator to speak at this 
     solemn resting place. The first was Senator Francis Ryan 
     Duffy of the state of Wisconsin, who came to dedicate the 
     chapel, 74 years ago.
       It is worth recalling what Senator Duffy said here in 1937, 
     as the spreading shadow of war was once again darkening 
     Europe:
       He said:
       ``If the boys who are buried out here could sit up in their 
     graves and speak to us today, it would be to give voice to 
     the agonizing question--`Cannot some other means be found to 
     settle international disputes?' ''
       Just two years later the world was plunged into the Second 
     World War, and every generation of Americans since has known 
     war's brutality.
       Across the globe, in the century since then, innocent 
     civilians increasingly have joined the ranks of those in 
     uniform as the victims of war.
       Over the years, standing with families from Vermont as they 
     bid farewell to loved ones sent away to fight, I have seen 
     the terrible costs: wives and children left alone, parents 
     who must bury a child.
       Lives with so much possibility suddenly cut short, as were 
     those of the soldiers we honor here.
       The men who sacrificed everything at Flanders Field--and 
     who are commemorated so vividly through Colonel John McCrae's 
     poetic tribute, heard 'round the world--believed that some 
     things are worth fighting for.
       They knew that vanquishing tyranny, and defending the 
     ideals our countries share, were among them. Of course those 
     same values are worth pursuing peacefully. Our obligation to 
     our fallen, and to all of humanity, is to use every peaceful 
     means at our disposal before committing any of our countrymen 
     to battle.
       We are here today to solemnly affirm that we remember their 
     sacrifice, and that we will never forget.

                          ____________________