[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12079-12080]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     A TRIBUTE TO THE FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN OF CANADA AND AMERICA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. BARCIA

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 2002

  Mr. BARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor all those American and 
Canadian soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have sacrificed 
their lives in military conflicts over the years, especially those 
killed in our joint struggle against the evils of terrorism in 
Afghanistan and throughout the world.
  Throughout our mutual histories, America and Canada have enjoyed a 
special kinship and a great friendship. Our longstanding defense 
partnership with Canada traces back to World War II and remains well-
entrenched and highly successful. Our commonality of interests and 
heritage often has resulted in significant collaboration in times of 
war as well as times of peace. America has no better friend than Canada 
and vice versa.
  Americans and Canadians owe a debt of gratitude to those citizens of 
both nations who have donned their country's uniforms and gone off to 
war. The freedoms we enjoy in the United States and those enjoyed by 
our

[[Page 12080]]

friends to the north remain intact in large measure because of the 
willingness of our brave men and women to stand up to tyranny and 
aggression wherever such acts have occurred. Today, we are faced with a 
new kind of war and again America and Canada have teamed up to vanquish 
those who would destroy our way of life. Together, we will win the 
fight and protect the freedom-loving people of our two peaceful 
countries.
  Sadly, this new war has already taken its toll on America and Canada 
with the unimaginable loss of life that occurred in the vicious 
terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York, on that doomed 
flight that crashed in rural Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon in 
Washington, D.C. Families in both our countries suffered losses in 
those tragedies and in the subsequent military actions in Afghanistan 
and elsewhere.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in paying 
tribute to those patriots in Canada and the United States who willingly 
put life and limb on the line to protect and defend our liberties. A 
free society comes with a price and those brave Americans and Canadians 
who paid the ultimate price deserve a place of honor on the platform of 
freedom shared by our two individual nations.

                          ____________________