[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[House]
[Pages 28594-28595]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL, AND THE PRICE OF 
                                FREEDOM

  (Mr. McNULTY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, this week we celebrate the 224th birthday 
of the United States Marine Corps, and also we mark the 10th 
anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. These two events 
have a lot to do with each other. If we think of all of the wondrous 
things that have happened over the past 10 years, the collapse of the 
Communist system in Eastern Europe, the tearing down of the Berlin 
Wall, the break-up of the Soviet Union into individual democratic 
republics, we cannot help but reach the conclusion that freedom is not 
free. We paid a tremendous price for it.
  I believe that we should remember every day that had it not been for 
the men and women who wore the uniform of the United States military 
through the years, we would not have the privilege of going around 
bragging about

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how we live in the freest and most open democracy on the face of the 
Earth.
  So today when I think of these two great events, I give thanks to all 
of those who made the supreme sacrifice, and all of those who wore the 
uniform of the United States military. I start this day as I do every 
day, thanking God for my life and veterans for my way of life.

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