[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S2535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Memorial Day

  Madam President, in the days ahead, we will celebrate Decoration Day. 
Decoration Day was first declared locally in 1866, after the Civil War. 
It was a day to remember those who gave their lives in battle for our 
country by decorating the graves and remembering their sacrifice.
  Now we call it Memorial Day. We remember all of those who have given 
their lives for our Nation. It is, unfortunately, not those who just 
gave their lives long past. Unfortunately, it is still in the painful 
present.
  Last weekend, I sat in the agonizing funeral of TSgt Marshal Roberts, 
who was killed by rocket fire just 2\1/2\ months ago. He was in the 
process of getting others to safety when a rocket took his life. He is 
the first Oklahoman air guardsman to ever lose his life in battle. This 
Memorial Day will be very different for his wife, his daughter, their 
family, and the State of Oklahoma, because it is not just a day about 
sleeping in and sales on dishwashers and cars. It will evoke the memory 
of TSgt Marshal Roberts and the hundreds of thousands of others like 
him. They gave their everything for the sake of our liberty. Those men 
and women are not forgotten. They are our heroes, and this Memorial Day 
we will remember