Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1093, introduced by Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 130 Caldwell Drive in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, as the First Lieutenant Alvin Chester Cockrell, Jr. Post Office. Mr. Speaker, this is yet another first lieutenant. First Lieutenant Cockrell served his country in World War II. He enlisted in the Marine Corps back in 1937. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, Fleet Marine Force. He landed at Guadalcanal. It was his 24th birthday. It was September 18, 1942. First Lieutenant Cockrell led his platoon in assaulting a strongly held enemy position against heavy machine gun fire. During that battle, charging into the face of machine gun fire, something we know all too well for United States Marines, he was killed in action. He died in that engagement. Mr. Speaker, we often recognize marines because they have given a great deal in this war, along with the other forces. We often recognize Iraq and Afghanistan, and on occasion, we recognize Vietnam veterans as we did today. It is unusual for this body to reach back, as Senator Cochran has done, and find such a fitting individual from a war so long ago, the war that gave us America's Greatest Generation, and realize that we have not yet finished thanking those who gave us the freedom to pursue our lives, every person on the floor perhaps having been born after Lieutenant Cockrell died.…”