Mike Pence: “Mr. Speaker, after surviving the bloodiest battlefield since Gettysburg, a brave platoon of Marines trudged up Mount…”

“Mr. Speaker, after surviving the bloodiest battlefield since Gettysburg, a brave platoon of Marines trudged up Mount Suribachi on Sulfur Island with a simple task, to raise the flag above the devastation below. When the flag was raised by Sergeant Mike Strank and his platoon, history records that a thunderous cheer rose from our troops on land and on sea, in foxholes and on stretchers. Hope returned to that field of battle when the American flag began flapping in the wind. It is written that without a vision, the people perish. The flag, Mr. Speaker, was the vision that inspired and rallied our troops at Iwo Jima. The flag is still the vision for all Americans who still cherish those who stood ready to make the necessary sacrifices. Mr. Speaker, by adopting this flag protection amendment, we will raise Old Glory yet again. We will raise her above the decisions of a judiciary wrong on both the law and the history. And in some small way, we will raise the flag above the cynicism of our times, saying to my generation of Americans those most unwelcome of words, 'There are limits.'”