Mike Pence: “with Memorial Day 2005 just around the corner, men and women in Congress are hurrying home for festivities like those…”

“with Memorial Day 2005 just around the corner, men and women in Congress are hurrying home for festivities like those that we will enjoy in Indiana. This Sunday, the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race will draw half a million people. But it will not be the most important occasion of this long family weekend, because Hoosiers will gather in places like New Castle and Muncie and Elwood, Indiana, to commemorate this Memorial Day. I could not help but think about the obligations of this day as I toured the battlefield of Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, just last weekend. There, Mr. Speaker, I walked on the ground that saw 6,000 Americans fall in battle in a single day, the bloodiest day in American history. Six thousand Americans at Antietam would turn into 600,000 Americans on both sides of the battle that fell in the Civil War. Just 3 years after the end of that conflict, Americans set aside the 30th day of May each year to remember their sacrifice, and for 130 years, Decoration Day became Memorial Day, and it is something that we take seriously in the Hoosier State, as it will be taken seriously in every State in this Union. The Bible says, If you owe debts, pay debts; if honor, then honor; if respect, then respect. I rise humbly as the Congressman from the Sixth District of Indiana to pay a debt of respect and honor to those men who have fallen most recently in the service of this Nation in my congressional district.…”