[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13762]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        ARLINGTON CEMETERY'S HONOR GUARD NEVER LEAVE THEIR POST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the country is recovering from natural 
disasters that are taking place all over our land: on the West Coast 
and the Northwest, we have the wildfires; over the weekend, we had 
Hurricane Irma going through Florida, now through the Southeastern 
States causing havoc; and then, of course, we are still reeling from 
the hammering that we received in Houston and other areas because of 
Hurricane Harvey, where thousands have lost their homes, over a million 
cars are destroyed. Natural disasters are taking place.
  In the midst of all of this, yesterday was a day we should also 
remember, not because we had natural disasters, but because we had an 
attack on the United States 16 years ago. Yes, September 11, 2001.
  All of us who are old enough remember exactly what we were doing, as 
we should always remember what we were doing that day--a defining 
moment in our personal lives.
  I was a judge in Texas at that time. I was driving my Jeep--an old, 
red, beat up Renegade Jeep--to the courthouse, and I was listening to 
KILT Radio, Hudson & Harrigan in the Morning, a country-western 
station. Robert B. McIntyre, the newscaster, came on and said that a 
plane had hit one of the towers in New York City. Like most folks, I 
didn't know what to make of that. I thought maybe it was an accident. 
But a few minutes later, he was back on the air talking about a second 
plane crashing into the other tower in New York City.
  I pulled over to the side of the road, as other people were doing, 
and listened to what was taking place in America as we were attacked. 
We all know the rest of the story about some wonderful people who were 
hijacked on a plane in Pennsylvania who took that plane down that 
apparently was headed for Washington, D.C., probably this building. 
They saved the lives of Members of Congress and people who worked in 
Washington. The fourth plane crashed into the Pentagon.
  I would just like to talk about that fourth plane. That plane, 
American Airlines Flight No. 77, takes off from Dulles, takes to the 
air, in less than 50 minutes turns around, and is headed back to the 
Pentagon.
  As you know, Mr. Speaker, the Pentagon is right next to Arlington 
Cemetery. At the top of the crest of Arlington Cemetery is the Tomb of 
the Unknown. I call it the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is the Tomb 
of the Unknown.
  The Tomb of the Unknown is guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all 
of the time, by the United States Army 3rd Infantry Division. The 
oldest infantry division in the United States has the honor, the duty, 
and the privilege to guard the tomb of America's unknown who died for 
us.
  So what happened on September 11 when the two planes crashed into the 
World Trade Center and the other plane is headed toward the Pentagon? 
Yes, the soldiers are on guard. And did they leave their post? 
Absolutely not. In fact, they not only did not leave their post, Mr. 
Speaker, they called for reinforcements, and they had 30 other soldiers 
create a perimeter around the tomb to guard it from whatever may occur 
from that terror that hit in the skies. They were there on duty.
  I assume, and I don't know this, but I assume those guards that day 
knew about the first two planes that hit the World Trade Center. The 
sergeant major on duty did not want those soldiers to leave the post. 
He called for reinforcements to protect the tomb from that terror in 
the skies.
  Remarkable stories that took place that day, Mr. Speaker, stories 
about Americans helping other Americans, just like Americans are 
helping Americans today with the wildfires and the hurricanes. There 
are many other stories that we will never know about.
  We know that on that day, as the smoke was burning in New York and in 
Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, our first responders, when that 
terror came to America, they didn't run. They ran toward that terror in 
the skies. Those men and women in our law enforcement agencies, our 
fire departments, emergency medical technicians, and thousands of 
others ran to help other people, strangers, when those planes, those 
terrorists, attacked America.
  We know that right down the street here at the Tomb of the Unknown 
where Arlington Cemetery is, where we bury our war dead, we know, of 
course, that that tomb stayed guarded, protected from that terror in 
the skies. Remarkable people, these Americans.
  And that is just the way it is.

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