[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 12855-12856]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO THE KANSAS PARTICIPANTS IN HONOR FLIGHT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 18, 2008

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 40 
veterans from the

[[Page 12856]]

Kansas City area who participated in the Greater Kansas City Honor 
Flight to Washington, DC, on June 11, 2008.
  Honor Flight is a non-profit organization that was created to honor 
America's veterans by organizing free trips to Washington, DC, to visit 
and reflect at the memorials dedicated to their service. Priority is 
currently given to veterans who served during World War II or those 
veterans who are facing terminal illness. Sadly, each day we lose more 
than 1,200 World War II veterans. It is imperative that these 
individuals have the opportunity to visit the memorial that was 
designed to honor their service and I am pleased that Honor Flight has 
made this a reality for so many of our WWII veterans. I had to 
opportunity to visit with many of them as they toured the World War II 
memorial last week and was struck by how many repeatedly expressed 
their gratitude for the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC, when, 
in reality, we should be the one thanking them.
  Madam Speaker, today I rise to humbly express my deep appreciation 
and gratitude to the veterans who participated in the Greater Kansas 
City Honor Flight, as well as their fellow service men and women from 
other parts of the United States, for their service to our country. No 
other group of Americans has stood stronger or more bravely for our 
democracy than our troops and veterans. We must celebrate, honor and 
remember these courageous and faithful men and women.
  I would like to thank the organizers of the Greater Kansas City Honor 
Flight, Gary Swanson and David Jackson, as well as the many dedicated 
chaperones and volunteers who worked behind the scenes on June 11 and 
for many months beforehand to ensure the Honor Flight participants had 
a memorable experience.
  Additionally, I would like to recognize the generous financial 
contribution my constituents, Norman and Elaine Polsky, made to Honor 
Flight in order to make the trip to Washington, DC, possible for these 
worthy service men and women from the Kansas City area. I thank Mr. 
Polsky for his incredible generosity and appreciate his tireless work 
in the community on behalf of his fellow veterans.
  The T-shirts worn by chaperones assisting Honor Flight participants 
feature a stirring quote from notable American entertainer Will rogers, 
which states, ``We can't all be heroes. Some of us have to stand at the 
curb and clap as they go by.'' Thank you to all of our veterans, 
especially those men and women who served proudly and courageously 
during World War II, and serve as an inspiration to our current armed 
forces. I am standing and clapping as loudly as I can.

                          ____________________