Date: 1982-05-26
Speaker: SAM B. HALL (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I commend my dear friend and colleague. the gentleman from Mississippi. for taking this special order to honor our Nations war dead this Memorial Day. Many eloquent and moving speeches have been delivered since the first Memorial Day was observed 114 years ago. but no statement has captured the essence of sacrifice and devotion more succinctly than the Gettysburg Address written and delivered by President Abraham Lincoln 5 years be. re the first official observance. The Gettysburg Address contains a clarion call to greatness. If a schoolchild can memorize it. and go through life understanding its message and living up to that message. he or she will be a model citizen. I quote a portion that is so appropriate at this time: * * * But. in a larger sense. we cannot dedicatewe cannot consecratewo cannot hallowthis ground. The brave men. living and dead. who struggled here. have consecrated it. far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note. nor long remember what we say here. but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living. rather. to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus Iar so nobly adv anced. When Lincoln spoke these immortal words. just I months had passed since the greatest battle before or after had taken place on the North American Continent. For 3 days in early July. 1863. armies of the North and SouthAmericans alltore at each other with such savagery and ferocity that the casualties numbered 51.000 around the little town of Gettysburg. Pa. No man who took part in the War Between the States is alive today. The last survivor was a fellow Texan who died over 20 years ago. But. their memory will live on as long as free men and women will put their lives on the line for their beliefs. for their liberty. Lincoln spoke for all of us this Memorial Day in reminding us that mere words do not compensate for uitimate sacrifice. But. he asked us to remember. He asked us to rededicate ourselves to freedom. In short. he pleaded with us to never allow those who paid the supreme sacrifice to have died in vain. Over 1 million Americans have died in combat. Most Americans living today know of a family member or friend who was killed in action. From the Revolution to Vietnam. and even now. millions of our fellow Americans have put their lives. fortunes. and sacred honor at stake to block the path of tyranny. I am informed by the Veterans Administration that more than 30 million living Americans have served in the Armed Forces. certainly. a reminder that freedom is not free for the askingit must be defended. It all comes down to what we as individuals are willing to do to defend and protect America. General MacArthur said. "Duty. Honor. Country." General Robert E. Lee. when asked the most important word in the English language. replied simply. "duty." The soldier. marine. airman. sailor: He or she knows their duty. Those who have fought and died for America knew their duty. The challenge is for us to do our duty by making certain that America is always prepared to defend its shores. Walt Mason. who was born (he year before Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. and who died the year World War II began. wrote with sadness and tenderness: * * * The little green tents where the soldiers sleep and the sunbeams play and the women weep. are covered with flowers today. From Bunker Hill to Cemetery Ridge to Flanders Fields to Khesanh. they paid the sacrifice with bravery and devotion. We pause now to remember them on a symbolic day. But. on every day of the year we need to pause and thank God for America and the men and women who have and will continue to stand vigilant against Its enemies.e