[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 94 (Friday, June 2, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SULLIVAN COUNTY VETERANS CEMETERY

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                           HON. JOHN J. FASO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 2, 2017

  Mr. FASO. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a speech I delivered 
at the Sullivan County Veterans Cemetery on May 29, 2017.

       Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished hosts, our Gold Star 
     Mothers, and all honored guests: Thank you for gathering here 
     with us on this observance of Memorial Day. It is my great 
     privilege and distinct honor to speak to you today.
       Memorial Day. A day of remembrance to our fallen soldiers. 
     A day when all Americans are reminded of those who gave their 
     lives to defend our freedoms. This is perhaps best honored by 
     the phrase uttered by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. They 
     gave to the cause of liberty, he said, ``their last full 
     measure of devotion.''
       Here in the 19th Congressional District, the history of our 
     Sullivan County neighbors has made an everlasting 
     contribution to the priciples of self-sacrifice, patriotism 
     and freedom we commemorate each Memorial Day.
       Sullivan County is the namesake of Major General John 
     Sullivan, an officer of the Revolutionary War. Sullivan was a 
     lawyer, politician, prisoner of war and military tactician 
     who was selected by George Washington to carry out a 
     difficult campaign against British forces and Loyalists in 
     what was then the borderlands of New York and Pennsylvania. 
     Sullivan was a towering figure who believed in the American 
     experiment and rejected the entreaties of the British to lure 
     him to their side. He had his feet planted firmly in the soil 
     of this continent.
       During the Civil War, New York provided more men and 
     munitions to the Union cause than any other state. But it was 
     Sullivan County that let the men march. Over 80 percent of 
     all the leather goods used by the Union side where 
     conditioned in the tanning vats of Sullivan County, including 
     Monticello's 143rd Infantry Regiment. It has been said with 
     justification that ``the Civil War was won with boots tanned 
     in Sullivan County.'' Each step of the journey to preserve 
     the Union and destroy the evil of slavery began here.
       Here at the Veterans Cemetery, we have a visual reminder in 
     the form of Sgt. Kenneth Von Ronn's M60A3 tank. Sgt. Von Ronn 
     was killed in action in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was laid 
     to rest in this place, downhill from his tank, fittingly 
     inscribed on the marker as a ``trooper and his mount.'' The 
     vehicle today stands guard for all those here, opposing 
     America's enemies for all eternity.
       At Arlington National Cemetery, the 3rd US Infantry, the 
     Old Guard, adorns thousands upon thousands of rows of 
     headstones with American flags each Memorial Day. Each 
     austere monument stands in perfect symmetry with the next. 
     This is an act of gratitude to each individual warrior and 
     the nation as a whole.
       Memorial Day is an enduring reminder of those who gave 
     their lives for our nation. We live in a time when only a 
     small percentage of American families have someone who is 
     serving on either active duty or in the reserves. As such, it 
     is all the more important that we gather together on this 
     solemn day to honor their sacrifice
       So too on this day, our obligation is not just to remember. 
     It is also to teach our children and grandchildren that our 
     liberty is more than just the words of the Declaration of 
     Independence, and the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. 
     Those documents are the foundation stones of our system of 
     government and the truth that governments derive their powers 
     from the people and not the other way around. And further 
     that the inalienable rights we enjoy as a free people come 
     from God and not from government.
       But none of this would be possible without the sacrifice of 
     those we remember today. Inscribed on statuary at the 
     National Archives building in Washington is the phrase 
     ``Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty.'' We need to 
     constantly remind ourselves that freedom is not free. Our 
     liberties are guaranteed us by our Constitution and Bill of 
     Rights; but they were also made possible by the determination 
     of miltiple generations of Americans who answered their 
     nation's call and who defended our liberties to the last 
     breath on the fields of battle.
       We stand on the shoulders of the fallen today. We owe them 
     our eternal gratitude; our respect; and that their collective 
     sacrifice is forever etched onto our collective memories.
       I recently read a quote attributed to the son of a U.S. 
     soldier killed in Afghanistan. He said of his father: ``His 
     life was not taken: It was given, to his country.''
       His life was not taken: it was given, so that others can 
     live in freedom and liberty. That truly sums up what we 
     should always remember about those we honor on Memorial Day. 
     May God bless our fallen soldiers and may God bless the 
     United States of America.

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