On the recordMay 25, 2016
as chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, I thank Senator Casey of Pennsylvania for giving me a couple of minutes to come to the floor of the Senate to pay tribute, preceding Memorial Day, to those men and women--less than 1 percent of our population--who have sacrificed, fought, and died on behalf of the people of the United States of America. We would not be where we are today had it not been for veterans who died on the battlefield so we could have free speech, democracy in government, and so our people could peacefully decide whom their leaders were and leave it up to us to lead the country. I want to put a personal face on Memorial Day for just a moment. First, I wish to talk about a guy named Tommy Nguyen. Tommy Nguyen is my legislative staffer on military affairs information. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Guard. He went to Fort Benning, GA, and graduated No. 1 in his class. You know what that means at Fort Benning. Right now he is deployed in Afghanistan and has been deployed for the past 5 months. While we sit here in peace and relative security in our country, people like Tommy are protecting us all over. I am grateful for Tommy. He is in my prayers every night. He is exemplary of all the other people who have gone before us and sacrificed. I wish to mention three people who are gone and aren't here any more, but they are the faces of Memorial Day, as far as I am concerned. I honor them at this time.…
