[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 27968]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         SUPPORT FOR H.R. 3423

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RONNIE SHOWS

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 19, 2001

  Mr. SHOWS. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be here, as a member of the 
House Veterans Affairs Committee to share my strong support for H.R. 
3423.
  In the days that followed September 11th, the depth of our lost was 
expressed in the thousands of testimonies of families and friends who 
lost loved ones in the World Trade Center, Pentagon and plane crash in 
Pennsylvania. We struggled as a nation to comprehend what had happened 
and collectively rose to pay tribute to the lives that were ended.
  And as stories of these people's lives turned to stories of these 
people's funerals, we learned of an injustice that had been occurring 
for years. We learned of Captain Charles Burlingame, the pilot of 
Flight 77, who served a full reserve career in the Navy. We learned 
that if he had lived his full God Given life, one not destroyed by 
terrorist action, he would have been eligible for burial at Arlington 
National Cemetery--with all the rights and respect from the U.S. 
Government he had served so proudly. And yet, because his life ended, 
before he turned 60, he was denied this honor; an honor for which he 
surely earned up till the last moment of his life. Today we change 
this.
  We respect the sanctity of Arlington Cemetery's grounds and the 
special honor it offers those who served our nation with distinction. 
We recognize the limited burial grounds of the cemetery and so 
deliberated change to their rules with care. Having done this, we 
determined that service to one's nation, not age of one's life, should 
be the ultimate criterion for interment at Arlington. And so, in this 
bill we move forward in expanding our ability to provide appropriate 
tribute and reverence to more servicemen who have passed. We eliminate 
today the age requirement for retired reservists who would otherwise be 
eligible for in ground burial, and we grant families of reservists who 
died performing training duty the right to have their loved ones buried 
at Arlington.
  This Holiday season, as we give thanks for our families and the 
strength of our nation, we recognize more than ever that our veterans 
are our heroes. They have shaped and sustained our nation with courage, 
sacrifice and faith. They have earned our respect and deserve our 
gratitude. Let us join together and do something meaningful by passing 
this legislation. It is the right thing to do.

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