[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12390-12391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          60TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY SPEECH BY SPEAKER HASTERT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RALPH REGULA

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 15, 2004

  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, at the ceremony recognizing the 60th 
Anniversary of D-Day held at the United States Memorial Cemetery at 
Omaha Beach, you, Speaker Dennis Hastert, delivered a moving tribute to 
the courage and sacrifice of those who fought and died for freedom. The 
text of these thoughtful remarks follows:

                             D-Day Minus 1


 Remarks by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert following a Mass by His Eminence 
                   Francis Cardinal George of Chicago

         [From the Omaha Beach Cemetery, France, June 5, 2004]

       Thank you Cardinal George for your inspirational words.
       Today we stand in this now peaceful cemetery, on the cliffs 
     overlooking the sea, in this field of white crosses and Stars 
     of David--straight and tall--as if they were young men 
     standing at attention.
       Together we have made a pilgrimage to this ``hallowed 
     ground''--as Abraham Lincoln would have phrased it--to bear 
     witness to what took place here and to spend, at least a 
     fleeting moment, with our brothers that lie beneath this 
     ground--men who sacrificed on this foreign shore so that we 
     might live as free men and women.
       It is our privilege, and our duty, to reflect upon the 
     courage and the heroism of those who were called upon to 
     defend our freedom. We honor those who lie here, but we also 
     embrace those who survived, and returned home to raise their 
     families and to build our nation as a beacon to freedom 
     loving people around the world.
       Not far from here, at Pointe du Hoc, are the cliffs they 
     said no man could scale. But they were scaled by determined 
     men with ladders and ropes and grappling hooks in the midst 
     of a merciless hale of bullets and shrapnel.
       Twenty years ago, on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, 
     President Reagan looked out at those cliffs and asked, ``who 
     were these men?''
       They were ordinary men doing extraordinary things. Men who 
     sought no territory--who sought no plunder--and who sought no 
     glory. They simply came, and many died, so we could live in 
     freedom.
       ``Where do we find such men?'' asked President Reagan. He 
     knew the answer. Over there--across the sea--In America.
       Sixty years ago today, D-Day minus One, what were those 
     young men thinking as they waited to embark on one of the 
     great crusades of the millennium?
       In those tension filled hours some found comfort in quiet 
     prayer. Others may have wondered why they were here.
       What threat forced these farmers, accountants, factory 
     workers, college students, athletes and assorted other 
     laborers and professionals, to leave their families, their 
     careers and their American way of life?
       They knew the answer. Hitler's Germany was that threat. 
     Hitler's hatred of freedom, his assault on common decency, 
     his brutal murder of millions of his own citizens, and his 
     determination to impose his sick vision of the future on the 
     free world.
       To end Hitler's regime and restore common decency in the 
     world: that is why they were there.
       Operation Overlord, as with the entire war effort, caused 
     great hardship. But out of such hardship was drawn great 
     courage, and from great courage were forged great leaders. 
     Some of that ``greatest generation'' returned home and 
     entered politics and went on to serve our Nation in the 
     Congress of the United States.
       Sam Gibbons parachuted behind the lines here in Normandy, 
     preparing the way for the invasion that would follow. He 
     would later become a leader on the Ways and Means Committee.
       Bob Michel, our beloved leader from Illinois, went ashore 
     here in Normandy and fought the Nazis all the way to 
     Bastogne, where he was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge.
       The list of members who served our nation in the Second 
     World War, and still serve in the House of Representatives, 
     is growing ever shorter with the passage of time.
       But those proud members--Henry Hyde of Illinois, Cass 
     Ballenger of North Carolina, John Dingell of Michigan, Amo 
     Houghton of New York, Ralph Hall of Texas, and Ralph Regula 
     of Ohio, still bring great honor to the United States House 
     of Representatives.
       These Members of Congress and the men of the 1st Division, 
     some of whom are here today, and their millions of comrades-
     in- arms, understood that the world-wide threat of fascism, 
     if left unchecked, would destroy the free world. They faced 
     that threat and they beat it.
       I want to tell you that the ``Greatest Generation'' still 
     lives today and like the boys of the 1940s, it has a very 
     young face. They are the grandsons and the granddaughters of 
     those who hit this beach in France or raised that flag on Iwo 
     Jimi or pushed the communists back in Korea or in Vietnam.
       How do I know that these young warriors of the 21st century 
     are also part of ``The Greatest Generation?'' Because I have 
     met some of them. I have visited them in hospital wards at 
     Walter Reed and in Landstuhl in Germany.
       When you visit these young men and women--some of whom have 
     been severely wounded, and you ask them what they want, you 
     always get the same answer, ``I just want to go back and join 
     my unit, sir, to be with my comrades and do my job.''
       It happens over and over again, the same response given 
     with pride and determination. I ask myself, often with tears 
     in my eyes as

[[Page 12391]]

     I walk away, ``Where do we find such men and women?'' And I 
     know the answer. All around me. Everywhere I look. In 
     America.
       Today we face the threat of world-wide terrorism. Like the 
     Nazis of the 1930's, the terrorists of the 1990's were a 
     threat too often ignored.
       But like Pearl Harbor, September 11th, 2001, shocked us out 
     of our complacency. As Americans, we love peace, but we love 
     freedom more. So we are facing the threat. And we will beat 
     it.
       In war, we often sacrifice some of the best and the 
     brightest to further the cause of freedom. But we also forge 
     the leaders for the next generation.
       We cannot know who will be the Bob Michel, or Bob Dole, or 
     Sam Gibbons of this new generation. But they are out there. 
     Perhaps serving today in a remote mountain camp in 
     Afghanistan, or in a village in Iraq, or on a ship at sea.
       Their mission is not very different from that of 1944--to 
     preserve the freedoms that we cherish and to restore freedom 
     to oppressed people. They are fighting to make our homeland 
     safe. They are sacrificing for others.
       Who are these ordinary men and women doing extraordinary 
     things you ask? I cannot tell you their names. But this I 
     know: They are Americans.
       May God continue to Bless the United States of America.

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