[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 94 (Friday, May 28, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E591-E592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNIZING AMERICAN HEROES ON MEMORIAL DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. KEN BUCK

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 28, 2021

  Mr. BUCK. Madam Speaker, I am honored to rise today in recognition of 
Memorial Day and in support of the countless men and women who have 
sacrificed their lives for the security and freedoms we enjoy in our 
republic.
  Outside the United States Special Forces Training Center, there is a 
quote from John Stuart Mill that reads, ``War is an ugly thing, but not 
the ugliest of things. The decayed and

[[Page E592]]

degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing 
is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is 
willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal 
safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless 
made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.''
  Today, we honor the memory of those better men and women. These 
heroes paid the ultimate price so we can enjoy the freedoms enshrined 
in our Constitution. They fought and died for this more perfect union. 
I am reminded of Winston Churchill's comment about democracy following 
the fall of Nazi Germany. He said, ``Many forms of government have been 
tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends 
that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that 
democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other 
forms that have been tried from time to time.''
  Since the founding of our nation, countless brave men and women stood 
in the face of imminent danger that we might continue their pursuit of 
a more equal, free, and prosperous society. And we are eternally 
indebted to and grateful for these champions of our experiment in 
democracy.
  Madam Speaker, I am privileged and humbled by the opportunity to 
recognize these brave individuals.

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