[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 189 (Thursday, December 19, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1314]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATOR JERRY MORAN AT BASTOGNE
______
HON. JOE WILSON
of south carolina
in the house of representatives
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, the Commemoration of the
80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, hosted by the American
Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and U.S. Embassy Belgium, on
December 13, 2024, at the Mardasson Memorial featured remarks by
Senator Jerry Moran. Heartfelt observations by a fellow son of a
Kansas, same as Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ladies and gentlemen, and our veterans, those who served
here at the Battle of the Bulge and around the globe, who
served in World War Two and the wars that preceded that, and
those who serve today, it's an honor to be with you here in
Belgium to lead this Senate Delegation to the 80th
anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. And I want to
recognize my colleagues from the Senate who are here, Senator
Susan Collins, Senator John Barrasso, Senator Kristen
Gillibrand and Senator Maggie Hassan. I also recognize
Congressman and Chairman McCaul and his House members and
Administrator Bill Nelson in his representation of the
Administration of the United States of America. We thank all
of you who have traveled here today for this very important
and significant occasion. I represent the state of Kansas,
the home of Dwight D. Eisenhower in the United States Senate,
I am the ranking member and incoming Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Veterans Affairs. In marking this commemoration
in Belgium today and Luxembourg tomorrow, we are here to pay
tribute to and to honor the memory of the men who fought for
freedom on the European Continent and those who remain here,
still lying in internal rest in sites like Ardennes, the
American Cemetery to the north and Luxembourg American
Cemetery to the southeast. Together, they are the final
resting place for more than 10,000 Americans, and another 834
are memorialized on the wall of the missing places like these
and the monuments where we are today are reminders of the
price that were paid for the liberties that we each enjoy.
The Battle of the Bulge was the largest, as we've heard, the
most costly battle for the Americans during World War Two. On
the morning of December 16, 1944, under the cover of poor
weather, Nazi Germany launched a final offensive seeking to
divide allied forces and to force a negotiated end to the
hostilities on this Western Front. Despite being outnumbered,
out gunned short of supplies, it was here during the coldest
winter in decades, where the US Army's 101st Airborne
Division, The Screaming Eagles, held off the enemy's advances
and bought time for the allies to halt and counter the last
gasp the surprise attack of the enemy. This Band of Brothers
was made up of men from every corner of the United States,
such as Senator Collins, Father Don Collins, Senator
Barrasso, Father John and Senator Hassan's father, Robert
Wood and many more. Those of you here in attendance today who
have loved ones, who served, who answered the call and to
bear arms in this Battle of the Bulge. On December 22, 1944,
General Eisenhower, from that small town in Kansas called
Abilene, sent the following message to every member of the
Allied Expeditionary Force. General Eisenhower said, ``the
enemy is making his supreme effort. He is fighting savagely
to take back all that you have won, but already in this
battle, your gallantry has done much to foil his plans. In
the face of your proven bravery, your fortitude, he the enemy
will completely fail, but we cannot be content with just a
mere repulse by rushing out from his fixed defenses. The
enemy may have given us the chance to turn his great gamble
into his worst defeat.'' I call upon Eisenhower speaking
here. ``I call upon every man of the Allies to rise now to
new heights of courage, of resolution and of effort, united
in this determination and with this unshakable faith in the
cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go
forward to our greatest victory.'' With that message in the
soldiers minds and hearts, the fighting continued through
Christmas, the soldiers huddled in their foxholes and prayed
between shellings, echoing the prayers of their loved ones in
church pews and around the dinner tables back home, as the
calendar turned from 1944 to 1945 the Allied Army steadily
drove back the enemy in a unified push toward victory. One
year after the war ended on America's Independence Day, the
people of Belgium broke ground on this site to demonstrate
and to dedicate this patch of earth to the memory of the
heroes of the Battle of the Bulge in this center of this
monument, there is an inscription that, when translated into
English, reads the Belgium people remember their American
liberators, July 4, 1946, I thought of that as we drove
through this town and saw the Christmas ornaments, the trees,
the stars, the lights, what happened here 80 years ago makes
life possible here today and other places around our globe.
This Transatlantic partnership forged in war, remains a
pillar of strength for both of for both of our nations,
Belgium and the United States. And as Russia wages wages raw
war in Ukraine, the bonds of NATO must grow stronger and
continue to deter the aggression of our shared adversaries.
The General indicated what the Germans were trying to
accomplish, and I take his words to say, we too must
demonstrate the Alliance cannot be shattered. We will stand
together today, shoulder to shoulder, just as the soldiers
who liberated this continent did eight decades ago, 80 years
after the Battle of the Bulge, remember, we remember the cost
paid by those who died here and those who served here. Time
cannot time must not dim the glory of their deeds. We often
look for heroes, and we look in baseball parks and
amphitheaters and sports figures entertainers. We sometimes
look to politicians to be heroes, and sometimes they are. But
mostly we don't have to look very far for heroes. They are
among us, among us today in our hometowns across the United
States of America, they are the ones who served there's a
small memorial back home in Abilene, Kansas. It's a memorial
at the presidential library of Dwight D. Eisenhower that
bears this inscription. ``Let us be glad that such heroes
have lived and mourn those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Indeed, let us be glad for those, those heroes who have
lived, those heroes who show us away and let us strive to
live our lives in a manner worthy of their sacrifices.'' God
Bless you, veterans. Thank you for being our heroes and our
role models. Thank you.
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