[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14082-14083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           D-DAY JUNE 6, 1944

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Saturday, June 6, 2009, will mark the 
65th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. Operation Overlord was 
the code name, but most folks know the massive invasion by its military 
term. We call it D-day.
  We honor the amazing men who stormed the beaches at Normandy on that 
historic day. Utah, Sword, Gold, Juno and Omaha beaches were the names 
of the invasion sites.
  June 6, 1944, was a wicked day of weather. The seas were high and the 
rain came in hard. The sky only broke occasionally for the Allied air 
cover to protect the landings.
  Our boys laid claim to the beachheads inch by bloody inch. The 
Rangers climbed the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc under heavy, brutal German 
fire. The sand was stained red with the blood of young American 
warriors and that of our friends, our allies.
  Felix Branham went ashore at the second wave of Omaha Beach as a 
demolition man. Felix had joined the National Guard in 1938. Branham 
said of his landing: ``The water was so rough. The guys were getting 
seasick. I saw water spilling up over the sides of our landing crafts.
  ``The seawater was splashing in on us from shells bursting and rifles 
hitting our boat. But I never raised up and looked over to the side of 
that boat. None of us did.
  ``When we got off the landing craft, the water was up to my knees. Of 
course, the tide was rising a foot every 10 minutes and we had to get 
in quick, because high tide would cover up the obstacles in the water 
that we used for cover and we would be blown out of the water. They 
were firing at us from everywhere.
  ``When we got to the beach, there were Rangers who were separated 
from their units piling in with us at the same time.
  ``My team was the first one to go over the sea wall; and I saw some 
of my friends die.
  ``In my team of 30 men, we had lost only about five or six of those 
men. We were lucky. God knows how lucky we were. We went up the hill 
and then we crossed over Omaha Beach and eventually made it to a little 
French town.
  ``The day after D-day, I walked up to the beach, went up and down the 
beach and saw guys lying on the beach who were dead. They were there 
with their eyes open, their rifles ready. They were solid in their 
death.''
  Mr. Speaker, these brave men who cracked the Nazi grip on Europe 
began with the liberation of France 65 years ago. And then from there 
they went on to Germany. Nothing like it had ever been done before in 
history. Over 150,000 Allied soldiers hit the beaches during the 
assault landings on the 6th of June. By the 4th of July, over 1 million 
joined the invasion force through Normandy. It was a miraculous feat 
for 1944.
  These young men were from every State and territory of the United 
States. They were young and hailed from places in the rural farmlands 
to the big cities. Many had never been but a few miles from home until 
they went ashore and overseas. They have been called the Greatest 
Generation.
  Growing up, I learned that my dad, a farm boy, served in the great 
World War II as a soldier in Europe. He was only 18. That's all I knew. 
Neither he nor my mom, a war bride, ever said anything about my dad's 
service until they went to a certain place. Here is that place, Mr. 
Speaker, a place called Normandy.
  They went on the 50th anniversary of the D-day landing. When he came 
back to Texas after this grave-site visit here in this photograph, he 
started talking about his buddies, those that had lived, and those that 
had died. He talked about the concentration camps he saw like at 
Dachau, and how he nearly froze in the Battle of the Bulge, and much, 
much more.
  But he claims to be no hero, even though he is my hero. He says the 
real heroes are buried right here in this cemetery at Normandy, his 
fellow warriors who gave up their youth so our country could have our 
future.
  Mr. Speaker, some today forget the feats of these warriors of World 
War II. Those World War II troops went to liberate but not to conquer. 
They fought for a people they didn't even know in a land they had never 
seen. They freed an entire continent of Europeans from tyranny and 
wanted absolutely nothing in return.
  Mr. Speaker, here are some of those Americans that never came home: 
9,387, to be exact, still buried in graves in Normandy. Buried on the 
cliffs, their white crosses and their Stars of David shine and glisten 
in the morning sunshine over Omaha and Utah beaches.
  Mr. Speaker, others are buried in unmarked graves all over Europe, 
known only to God. They were great Americans and we should always 
remember

[[Page 14083]]

them. We will always be proud, and we will always be free because of 
them.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________