[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E525-E526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING THE COLORADO FREEDOM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JASON CROW

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 6, 2023

  Mr. CROW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Colorado Freedom 
Memorial Foundation (CFM) and celebrate its 10th anniversary. The CFM 
Foundation is a non-profit corporation maintained by a network of 
volunteers that seeks to provide a place of reverence for Coloradans 
who left to fight for freedom and never returned.
  After a visit to the Normandy American Cemetery in France, founder 
Rick Crandall learned that 88 servicemembers from Colorado were buried 
there. Curious about how many Coloradans had been lost in all of 
America's wars, Rick made it his mission to create a space to honor the 
Colorado servicemembers killed in action. After more than a decade of 
work, the CFM Foundation erected the Colorado Freedom Memorial in 2013. 
symbolically bringing Colorado's once-lost men and women back home.
  The Colorado Freedom Memorial, located in Aurora, Colorado, holds the 
names of 5,990 Coloradans killed or missing in action, with an 
additional 102 names awaiting inscription. The

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names, which span from the Spanish-American War to present day. are 
organized by conflict, but are intentionally out of alphabetical order 
to evoke the chaos of war. As long as war is a reality, the lives and 
names of Coloradans will continue to be added to the memorial to honor 
the ultimate sacrifice they made in service to our Nation.
  In the ten years since the memorial was dedicated, thousands have 
come to visit, pay their respects, and remember those who served. The 
Colorado Freedom Memorial is not only a solemn space for memorial 
services and ceremonies but is a place of grief and healing for 
families that never had a cemetery to visit the loved ones they lost.
  I commend the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation and its volunteers 
for their ongoing effort to ensure that no Coloradan is forgotten.

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