[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4101]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      FIRST SPECIAL SERVICE FORCE

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                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 9, 2017

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on March 3, 2017, I was 
grateful to present a Congressional Gold Medal to Joseph Moore of 
Lexington, South Carolina for his service with the First Special 
Service Force, a U.S.-Canadian unit of volunteers, who initiated the 
liberation of Europe at Anzio, Italy, in January 1944.
  During the presentation with his family, he presented me with an 
extraordinary prayer which was read by Eugene Gutierrez at the 2015 
Reunion of the First Special Service Force. The following prayer was 
found on the body of an American soldier killed in action on the 
beachhead at Anzio:

     Look God, I have never spoken to you.
     But now I want to say, ``How do you do?''
     You see, God, they told me you didn't exist.
     And like a fool, I believed all this.
     Last night from a shell hole, I saw your sky
     And figured then they had told me a lie.
     Had I taken time to see things you made,
     I'd have known they weren't calling a spade a spade.
     I wonder, God, if you'd shake my hand?
     Somehow, I feel you will understand.
     Funny, I had to come to see your face.
     Well, I guess there isn't much more to say.
     But, I'm sure glad, God, I met you today.
     I guess the zero hour will soon be here,
     But I'm not afraid since I know you are near.
     There's the signal . . . I've got to go.
     I like you lots, I want you to know.
     Look now, this will be a horrible fight.
     Who knows, I may come to your house tonight.
     Though I wasn't friendly to you before,
     I wonder, God, if you'd wait at your door?
     Look, I'm crying . . . me, shedding tears.
     I wish I had known you these many years.
     Well, I have to go now, God, goodbye . . .
     Strange, since I met you, I'm not afraid to die.

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