[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 8538-8539] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO ANNE BREHM OF KANSAS CITY, KANSAS ______ HON. DENNIS MOORE of kansas in the house of representatives Wednesday, May 17, 2006 Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, as Memorial Day approaches, I want to take a moment to bring to the attention of the House of Representatives the noteworthy contribution of Anne Brehm of Kansas City, Kansas, to the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Washington, D.C. Originally attributed to an ``unknown Army nurse,'' a quotation inscribed on the memorial site recently was attributed to World War II Air Force nurse Anne Sosh Brehm, who wrote it in a 1990 letter to retired Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, USAF, the foundation president for the memorial. The circumstances of her correspondence, and the recent attribution of the quote to Anne Brehm are recounted in a recent article from The Leaven, which I am including with this statement. Mrs. Brehm's quote, which will be properly attributed to her at a Memorial Day ceremony at the memorial later this month, is as follows: ``Let the generations know that the women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom; that our resolve was as great as the brave men who stood among us; and with victory our hearts were just as full and beat just as fast as theirs, that the tears fell just as hard for those we left behind us.'' [From The Leaven, Nov. 11, 2005] Let the Generations Know--Sacred Heart Parishioner Earned Place in World War II History (By Bob Hart) Kansas City, KS--For years it was an anonymous quote, attributed to an ``unknown Army nurse'' at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Washington, D.C.: ``Let the generations know that the women in uniform also guaranteed their Freedom; that our resolve was as great as the brave men who stood among us; and with victory our hearts were just as full and beat as fast as theirs, that tears fell just as hard for those we left behind us.'' Every so often, Anne Brehm, a parishioner of Sacred Heart Church in Kansas City, Kan., would hear of the quote, and think to herself, ``I said that.'' Typically modest the former World War II Army nurse did nothing about it. ``For 15 years, I just let it go,'' Brehm said. Things changed this past August when Brehm received a phone call from retired Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught, USAF, foundation president for the memorial. Years earlier, Brehm had written the brigadier general to register for the memorial and had included the quote in the comments. Vaught had been using it in speeches for years and had passed it on for inscription in a panel at the memorial itself, overlooking the pool. Unfortunately, she had long since misplaced Brehm's letter and could not remember whose words she was quoting. As fate would have it, Vaught found Brehm's letter shortly before she was scheduled to speak at an American veterans of World War II convention in Kansas City, Mo., late this past summer. The rest, as they say, is history. Where the action was Gary, Ind., native Anne Sosh was just 22 and fresh out of nursing school in 1943 when she enlisted in the Second Air Force--incurring the playful wrath of her four brothers, who were all in the Navy. ``I betrayed my family,'' Brehm said, laughing in the kitchen of the Kansas City home in which she's lived for 50 years. ``But the Navy didn't send their nurses overseas, and I wanted to be where the action was.'' She got her wish. She spent time in Bombay, India, where she was ``in awe'' at seeing Mahatma Gandhi; in Burma, where she saw Gen. Joseph Stillwell on the Ledo Road; and finally in China, where she got to know Gen. Claire Chennault and members of his famed Flying Tigers--many of whom were patients in the 172nd General Hospital where Brehm served. She was still in China when the A-bomb was dropped. Chinese nationalists and Communists took up their fight, and the nurses were told to quickly leave the country. They grabbed what pictures and other belongings they could, leaving behind 20 of their own--nurses and good friends who had been killed in a plane crash in Burma. Brehm was first sent back to India. With the promise of her choice of hospitals, she reenlisted and requested Topeka General, stateside, with a secret ulterior motive: She was dating a young man she'd met overseas, Dick Brehm from Mission. She would marry Dick Brehm and raise two children--son Alan and daughter Susie. She would also continue her nursing career until 1990, right about the time she heard about the memorial being built in Washington, D.C., to honor female veterans. Ann Brehm picked up her pen and wrote, in her letter to Vaught, what would become a very famous quote. ``For all of us'' ``I was very moved by your words,'' Vaught told Brehm on the phone last August. ``I've used them in hundreds and hundreds of speeches over the years.'' The general invited Brehm to join her at the American veterans of World War II convention at Crown Center, where she would finally be identified as the writer of the quote that had been on display in the nation's capital for 15 years. ``I was introduced and spoke,'' Brehm said. ``I have no idea what I said.'' Brehm was greeted warmly by her fellow veterans, many of whom thanked her for the words that had moved them when they visited the memorial. Although the revelation that she is the woman who wrote ``let the [[Page 8539]] generations know'' has brought her a certain level of celebrity, she treasures one clipping above all: a short article in her church bulletin written by her pastor, Father Michael Hermes, whom she calls ``my archangel.'' The memorial will soon change the inscription from ``Author, unknown Army nurse'' to properly credit 1st Lt. Ann Sosh Brehm. She thinks that's nice, but not such a big deal. ``We had a camaraderie you just don't find in civilian life,'' she said, recalling her fellow nurses, many long since gone. ``What I said was for all of us, I don't need any credit.'' ____________________