[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22035]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE AMERICAN WARRIOR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, Saturday we celebrated Veterans Day. Veterans 
Day is a holiday, but it is more of a memorial. It is a day we honor 
those who served. It started because of the end of the war to end all 
wars, World War I, and on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th 
month of 1918, the First World War stopped, and because of that, since 
then we honor all veterans who have served.
  Memorial Day is the day we honor those who served and died. Veterans 
Day is the day we honor those who served and lived.
  In this House of Representatives today, in the 109th Congress, about 
25 percent of Congress has served in the military. In 1950, in the 
fifties, about 65 percent were veterans; 111 Members of Congress served 
during the Vietnam era, 78 of whom served in the Vietnam era, and 20 of 
those saw combat. We have our own Sam Johnson, who was a Navy pilot 
during Vietnam, was shot down and spent 7 years in the Hanoi Hilton 
prisoner-of-war camp.
  We have in this House of Representatives at least eight Members who 
have sons or daughters serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. We have Senator 
Inouye of Hawaii who was a Medal of Honor winner. All of these people 
served and served with honor.
  War for independence costs the lives of Americans. Freedom has always 
cost, and it always will, and I think it is worth noting the time frame 
of the wars that this country has fought in and those who died.
  In the War of Independence, 5,000 Americans died. In the Mexican-
American War, there were 13,000 Americans. In the War Between the 
States, there were 250,000 Confederates and 350,000 troops of the Union 
army, but they were all Americans; 600,000 died for this country. In 
World War I, there was 116,000. In the great World War II, 408,000 died 
for this country.
  My dad was one of those who served in the great World War II, and he, 
like many veterans of that war, never talked of that engagement until 
many, many years after that war was over with.
  In Korea, it is sometimes said of the Korea war it is the forgotten 
war, 55,000 Americans died. In Vietnam, 58,000 died. In the first gulf 
war, 300 troopers died, and in our latest fight in the war in Iraq and 
Afghanistan, 3,000 have died.
  The point being, in these few wars that I have mentioned, not all of 
the wars, this country has always called upon the American warrior to 
be the one to protect us from the forces of all evil.
  I have had the honor to be in Iraq with many of our troops, as many 
of our House Members have been, and I find them to be, in my opinion, 
the greatest military ever assembled, with their morale extremely high.
  Over Labor Day weekend, I had the honor to go and see some of our 
troops in military hospitals overseas and to see and visit with them, 
and before I went, I asked my staff in Texas to see if we could arrange 
to have some of the local school kids write and make some homemade 
cards. In 2 days' notice, they were able to produce about 5,000 
handmade cards that I took to our troops overseas, who were very 
grateful.
  The point being, I think now in this time in our history our country 
is grateful to the American warrior for putting their life on the line 
for the rest of us. So we can do no better than to honor those who have 
served, the American warrior. And though it was said in the Vietnam era 
that some gave all and all gave some, that is true of the American 
veteran. So we thank them on this day and every day, those that served 
and lived and those that served and did die for this country.
  And that's just the way it is.

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