[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING OUR NATION'S VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cook) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, Monday, November 11, will be Veterans Day. 
Veterans Day is very, very special to all Americans, but more so to me.
  I am a veteran. Part of the reason I ran for Congress was I wanted to 
talk about veterans' issues. I was concerned about the VA. I was 
concerned about the claims that have gone so long. I was concerned 
about, particularly, the Vietnam veterans that have their claims in a 
stack that haven't been addressed and yet the clock is ticking. They 
are dying. In 5 years, some insurance person can probably tell you how 
many of those Vietnam veterans are going to be dead.
  We have an obligation in this House as Americans to look after those 
that gave so much for our country, those that gave their lives, people 
in this House here that gave their limbs, they have been wounded, still 
carry shrapnel in their body, still have a cloth and have NyQuil and 
wake up with a nightmare dreaming about a firefight in a way, or the 
DMZ, or what have you. The memories never go away.
  We have an obligation to all Americans because, quite frankly, we are 
going to have another war in the future--I hope it is not in my 
lifetime--but there is always going to be a conflict, and we are going 
to call upon the military to do their job, and they will do their job. 
It is our responsibility to make sure we take care of those men and 
women that have given so much for their country.
  Many, many years ago, in a place far, far away, I was a platoon 
commander. I had a lot of marines, great troops. Many of them never 
came back. Lance Corporal Borey, Lance Corporal Doran--I can go on and 
on. I am not here to impress you with my memory because it is no great 
feat. It is something when you were there with those people and you saw 
what happened; you realize the significance of Veterans Day and how we 
can never forget those people that gave so much.
  So other than that day that is coming up very, very shortly, if you 
see a veteran, if you see somebody in the military, just say to them, 
thank you, because you care and you also remember.

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