[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 21776-21777]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING FAIRFAX CITY'S VFW POST 8469

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM DAVIS

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2006

  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
60th anniversary of VFW Post 8469, and the veterans whose dedication 
and service to this country are a remarkable testament to the past and 
present character of America's servicemen.
  On October 7, 2006, Fairfax City's VFW Post 8469 will celebrate its 
60th anniversary. This Veterans of Foreign Wars Post includes members 
who have served their country in several foreign conflicts, including 
World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and most recently Iraqi 
Freedom. It is the history of this fine group of patriots that is 
celebrated. And history tells a tale.
  Sixty years ago Fairfax was a bucolic little southern county. There 
were only two high schools. The Fairfax County Police Department had 
only six officers. Most of the young men who went off to war in the 
preceding 5 years knew each other, as did many of their families. They 
generally left for war at different times and typically served in 
different units, spread all over the globe.
  These soldiers saved the world and then they returned to an America 
that had radically transformed in their absence; specifically, to a 
county poised on the verge of a period of unprecedented growth. The 
only thing that had changed more than their world was the soldiers 
themselves. The returning soldiers, in the words of Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, ``[had] shared the incommunicable experience of war . . .'' 
This theme, and the reality of their circumstance, helped to underscore 
the necessity for a place and a venue where the veterans could find 
comradeship, work for the common good of the community, their fellow

[[Page 21777]]

veterans, the widows and orphans, and to remember their fallen.
  Mr. Speaker, today VFW 8469 is blessed with the presence of four of 
the 108 charter members of our Post from October 1946. All members of 
VFW 8469 stand on the shoulders of these and other giants.
  The Charter Members named VFW 8469 the ``Blue and Gray Post'', in 
honor of the area's famous 29th Infantry Division and in recognition of 
the healing power of a post-Civil War poem titled, The Blue and the 
Gray, by Francis Miles Finch. The first verse of which reads:

     ``By the flow of the inland river,
     Whence the fleets of iron have fled, [the Chesapeake Bay and 
           Potomac River]
     Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
     Asleep are the ranks of the dead: [Arlington Cemetery]
     Under the sod and the dew,
     Waiting the judgment-day;
     Under the one, the Blue,
     Under the other, the Gray.''

  All Americans owe an unfathomable debt to our American soldiers who 
have taken up arms in defense of our lives and our freedom. As I ask my 
colleagues to join me in recognizing the 60th anniversary of VFW Post 
8469, I believe it appropriate to conclude with the remarks of Floyd 
Houston, a member of VFW Post 8469.
  ``These young veterans need us as much as we need them. We must never 
forget our past--these giants who built what we have today and we must 
always keep faith with our values as we press into the future--support 
to veterans, their survivors, our community, and honoring our dead. May 
God continue to bless this Post, this county, this country, and may we 
never be at a loss for heroes such as these.''

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