[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8435]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HONORING VETERANS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, in Iraq today heroes are being made and 
freedoms won. Our soldiers in Iraq are joining a proud group of 
veterans who have fought to defend freedom and our country in the past.
  This morning I would like to share a few words of Father Denis Edward 
O'Brien, chaplain of the United States Marine Corps, that honor our 
Nation's veterans. He said, ``It is the soldier, not the reporter, who 
has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who 
has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus 
organizer, who has given us freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier 
who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is 
draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.''
  There is a time to fight for freedom. Today our Nation's veterans are 
defending freedom and this Nation in Iraq. Two little words that would 
mean a lot to them are ``thank you.''

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