Douglas Alexander: “I have a few words before we adjourn for the holidays. This isn't the first year that there will be a lot of empty…”

“I have a few words before we adjourn for the holidays. This isn't the first year that there will be a lot of empty places at our holiday dinner tables. Even if our own table doesn't have a missing spot, we know a neighbor or a friend whose brother, mother, or husband is away fighting to keep us safe at home. These empty places remind us of the generations of men an women who have sacrificed to keep us free so that we can, in freedom, celebrate those holidays that are important to each of us. Today I rise to honor the service of the family of Arles Greene of Hendersonville, TN. Arles's family has a lot of empty places around their dinner table in the Second World War. Arles's father Eugene W. Greene, his uncle William Edwin McDavid and friend Ed Gallbreath, Jr., all served some 60 years ago. Ed Galbreath, Jr., a friend of Arles's family, joined the Air Force in February 1944, during his senior year of high school. He flew 23 1/2 missions as a gunman, operated a VHF radio, and worked the radar jammers. He survived four crashes. In his last crash, out of a B-24 Tiger Shark, he landed in Berlin where he was taken prisoner. He spent months in confinement with some 6,000 other prisoners of war until he was liberated by the Russian Army. For his bravery, Sergeant Galbreath received many awards, including the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart, the P.O.W. Medal, and the Parachute Club Medal.”