[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17332]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
                         HONORING OUR VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Iowa 
(Mr. Young) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. YOUNG of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as we approach Veterans 
Day, to honor the brave men and women who have served our country in 
uniform.
  Now, earlier this year, I met with a group of young Iowans in 
Greenfield, Iowa, belonging to the Junior Optimists Club. They found a 
truly unique way to pay tribute to our Iowa veterans.
  The Sidey family owned and published the Free Press in Greenfield, 
Iowa, for over 125 years. The Free Press would publish in their 
newspaper letters Iowa servicemembers sent home to their families over 
the years.
  The Junior Optimists I met with went through the Sideys' collection 
of letters from World War II from soldiers. They picked out the ones 
they found most interesting or compelling and read them aloud at a Flag 
Day celebration that I was fortunate to attend.
  I want to share one here, and I will put some others in the Record 
here with my colleagues in the House of Representatives, and enshrine 
them in the Congressional Record so that we, and future generations, 
may always remember the very real and human struggles our men and women 
face as they leave their loved ones and family behind to bravely secure 
and serve our country with dignity, honor and distinction.
  I would like to read one of these letters, written by Lieutenant 
Kenneth Eatinger of Adair County, Iowa.

       July 23, 1943.
       Dear Little Brother:
       I hope and trust you will be able to read this all by 
     yourself, but if you can't, mother will read it to you and 
     you will be able to save it and read it yourself at a later 
     date after you have learned to read better.
       Sonny, I know you miss me. I miss you too. It is too bad 
     this war could not have been delayed a few more years so that 
     I could have been with you a while longer and do all the 
     things I had planned to do with you. But I suppose we must be 
     brave and put those things off for now.
       If I could just get home once more to see you and all the 
     folks again and have them meet my little wife and baby, I 
     wouldn't ask for anything more.
       When you are a little older, you will know why your brother 
     had to leave home for so long. You know we have a big country 
     and we have big ideals as to how people should live and enjoy 
     the riches of it and how each is born with equal rights to 
     life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness.
       Unfortunately, there are some countries in the world where 
     they do not have these ideals, where a boy cannot grow up to 
     be what he wants to be, with no limits on his opportunity to 
     be a great man such as a great statesman or a businessman, a 
     farmer, a soldier.
       Because there are many people in other countries who want 
     to change our Nation, its ideals, its form of government and 
     way of life, we must leave our homes and families to fight.
       When it is all over, your brother is going to bring his 
     little family home to see you and Mom and Dad and Inez and 
     all the rest. In the meantime, take good care of Mom and Dad 
     and grow up to be a good boy and a good young man.
       Study hard when you are in school. Be a good leader in 
     everything good in life. Be a good American, strive to win, 
     but if you must lose, lose like a gentleman, and be a good 
     sport. Don't be a quitter, either in sports or in your 
     business or profession when you grow up.
       Get all the education you can. Stay close to Mom and follow 
     her advice. Obey her in everything, no matter how you may at 
     times disagree. She knows what is best and will never let you 
     down or lead you away from the right and honorable things of 
     life.
       Little Brother, if I don't come back, you will have to be 
     Mom and Dad's protectors when they get older because you will 
     be the only one they have. You must grow up to take my place 
     as well as your own in their life and heart.
       Last of all, don't forget your brother. Pray for him to 
     come back from this war, and if it is God's will that he does 
     not, be the kind of boy and man your brother wants you to be.
       Kiss Mother, Dad, and Inez for me every night. Goodbye for 
     now, Little Brother. With love to you and all the family, 
     Your Brother.

  Mr. Speaker, these are the words of a brave man, and they ring as 
true today as they did over 70 years ago when they were written. They 
embody the ideals of this great Nation and the ethos of our Armed 
Forces that have fought, sacrificed, and died for our country so that 
we can remain free.
  My friends and colleagues, next week, when we recognize these men and 
women on Veterans Day, look them in the eye and say, ``Thank you.'' For 
their bravery and sacrifices, they deserve our unwavering gratitude and 
respect.
  May God bless them, and may God bless these United States of America.

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