[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11526]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN HEROES ON MEMORIAL DAY

  Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, this Monday is Memorial Day. It is a 
day that is important to countless families across this nation, 
including my own. It is a time of remembrance for those heroes who have 
fallen serving our country and thanking those who were blessed to 
return home to their families and loved ones.
  That we as a Nation take the time to thank our veterans is important. 
It is a simple, gracious act that we all too often fail to do.
  Our cities and towns, across Colorado and this Nation, have given up 
their young men and women without protest, men and women humbly 
accepting a calling greater than themselves.
  In many ways, this is what makes our nation so great. We are a nation 
of individuals that can put ourselves aside for the common good. We can 
come together and deliberate and differ, as we do here in the Senate. 
But we are appreciative of the gift of freedom we all share, and the 
price that our veterans and fallen heroes have paid on our behalf for 
our freedom.
  Earlier this week, I was fortunate to work with a pair of bona fide 
war heroes as we sought to preserve 200 years of Senate tradition. In 
my 5 short months here, I have come to admire Senator John McCain and 
Senator Daniel Inouye, two men I am honored to call my friends. They 
served bravely and with distinction, and have set an example for all of 
us to follow each day. I thank them for their sacrifice, their 
leadership and their continuing commitment to this Nation.
  We owe them, and all of our veterans and members of the Armed 
Services, a debt which can never be truly repaid. In 1865 in his second 
inaugural address, President Lincoln elaborated on the respect we have 
for those who served and the sacrifices made by the few for the many:

       With malice toward none; with charity for all; with 
     firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let 
     us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the 
     nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the 
     battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which 
     may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among 
     ourselves, and with all nations.

  We are fortunate that they, and so many of our veterans, are still 
here--husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, 
brothers, sisters and cousins. Too many of them, however, have been 
taken from us all too soon.
  One of those no longer with us is my father, Henry. My father served 
with honor and distinction in World War II and always took great pride 
in his service. When he passed away in 2001 after a long battle with 
Alzheimer's, his final request to my brother John was that he be buried 
in his uniform.
  We proudly honored this request, and afterwards I was struck by the 
importance of it to him. My father had been many things--a thoughtful 
son, a loving husband, an attentive father. But most important to him 
was his service to his Nation which he called home and which had given 
him so much.
  In 1962, GEN Douglas MacArthur gave the commencement address at West 
Point. He reflected on his time in the Army and on the nature of the 
ultimate action of any soldier--sacrificing his or her life for our 
Nation. MacArthur said:

       The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice 
     the greatest act of religious training--sacrifice. In battle 
     and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those 
     divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in 
     His own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can 
     take the place of the Divine help which alone can sustain 
     him. However horrible the incidents of war may be, the 
     soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for 
     his country is the noblest development of mankind.

  In many ways, it saddens us to know this fact. Each and every 
American looks forward to the day when none are called upon to make 
such a sacrifice.
  Over the past year, hundreds of Americans made that sacrifice for us 
while in service to our Nation, including 14 with Colorado roots: Shawn 
Atkins, of Parker; Dana Wilson, of Fountain; Douglas Bascom, of 
Colorado Springs; Theodore Holder, of Littleton; Michael Shackleford, 
of Grand Junction; Gregory Rund, of Littleton; George Geer, of Cortez; 
Lizbeth Robles, of Colorado Springs; Steven Bayow, of Colorado Springs; 
Derrick Lutters, of Burlington; Travis Anderson, of Hooper, in my 
native San Luis Valley in southern Colorado; and Charles Wilkerson, of 
Colorado Springs; along with Paul Christopher Alaniz and Landon Giles, 
whose families live in Colorado today.
  Each of them served with honor and distinction and we are all forever 
grateful for the sacrifice each of them made on behalf of all of us. 
Their names will not be forgotten, and our prayers will remain with 
their loved ones.
  One of our greatest Supreme Court Justices and a Civil War veteran, 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., used to spend his Memorial Days just a few 
miles from where we stand now, in Arlington National Cemetery. He would 
walk among the gravesites, reflecting on the sacrifices of so many, 
including the countless, nameless souls who laid beneath.
  Justice Holmes once observed:

       At the grave of a hero we end, not with sorrow at the 
     inevitable loss, but with the contagion of his courage. . . .

  Heroism is not in the deed itself, but in the courage to act. We have 
heroes because they chose to act, to step forward in the call to 
action. In this Senate, we are blessed with a history of service to our 
Nation. Outside of this building, however, is where true heroes of our 
military reside: men and women in uniform, our veterans who have stood 
watch before them, and those who have laid down their lives so that we 
can have freedom.
  I encourage everyone over this weekend to take time out from the 
parades and barbecues and family gatherings to thank our veterans and 
service members. They stand ready to defend the freedoms we take for 
granted, without seeking thanks or praise. This heroic act deserves our 
thanks, for it is by grace that they keep us safe.
  In the Book of Matthew we are taught: ``Blessed are the peacemakers: 
for they shall be called the children of God.''
  Through their service and sacrifice, they have earned that 
distinction.
  May God bless our service members and our veterans.
  May the families of those who have given their lives for our freedom 
know the depth of our appreciation. And may we never forget the 
importance of their sacrifice to our work here in the U.S. Senate.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.

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