[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 115 (Thursday, July 28, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5670-H5671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           LEGACY OF FREEDOM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Mississippi (Mr. Nunnelee) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NUNNELEE. Mr. Speaker, last week the remains of Corporal Judge C. 
Hellums of Paris, Mississippi, were returned from the Parroy Forest 
near Luneville, France, and given a proper burial in Arlington National 
Cemetery.
  In the fall of 1944, following the Normandy invasion, Corporal 
Hellums' unit, the 773rd Tank Battalion, was fighting its way east 
through France toward the German border. The M-10 tank destroyer to 
which he was assigned was attacked. Two men survived with serious 
injuries, but Corporal Hellums, along with Private First Class Lawrence 
N. Harris of Elkins, West Virginia, and Private Donald D. Owens of 
Cleveland, Ohio, were killed in the attack. All evidence at the time 
indicated that their remains had been destroyed.

[[Page H5671]]

  Over the last decade, through the cooperation of a French citizen who 
had been exploring the forest and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command 
using DNA evidence and forensic identification tools, the remains of 
these heroes were identified.
  On July 20, 2011, 67 years after their deaths, they were given the 
proper burial they had been denied as they were laid to rest in 
Arlington National Cemetery.
  To these heroes, we say: Welcome home, and may you rest in peace.
  While these soldiers were identified, we still have 72,000 American 
soldiers who are unaccounted for from World War II, and more than 
83,000 from all wars who are missing in action.
  Staff Sergeant Leroy Leist is one of those Americans. In 1944, his 
World War II bomber was shot down over the North Sea. His body, along 
with several of his fellow crewmembers, was never recovered. For more 
than a decade, Adrian Caldwell has worked tirelessly to locate her 
father's remains and bring them home. All of our fallen war heroes 
deserve a proper burial, and my office is working with Mrs. Caldwell to 
ensure that her father receives what he earned--the honor and gratitude 
from the country he served and gave his life to defend.
  This repatriation reminds us that freedom is not free. We enjoy the 
liberty of a free Nation today because of men like these who answered 
freedom's call. And the way we honor their sacrifice is to remember 
them and call them by name.
  The Greatest Generation is passing to their heavenly reward at a rate 
of over a thousand people a day. These are veterans who left their 
homes to fight in faraway places. These are families who supported 
those efforts. We cannot thank them enough before they are called home.
  The other way we honor their sacrifice is to pass on the legacy of 
freedom that they died to defend. When I conduct town hall meetings 
around Mississippi, I ask a question: Do you believe your grandchildren 
will live a better life than you lived? For the first time in American 
history the answer to that question is no.
  Sixty-seven years from now, and 167 years from now, successive 
generations will review the actions of our generation. Only history 
will record if we answered freedom's call.

                          ____________________