Political Quotes

“on May 29 our colleague, the senior Senator from Vermont, commemorated Memorial Day with a visit to Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial in Waregem, Belgium. The Flanders region, of course, was made famous by Canadian physician and LTC John McCrae, who wrote the poem ``In Flanders Fields'' on May 3, 1915, after he witnessed the death of his friend, LT Alexis Helmer, 22 years old, the day before. While Senator Leahy visited the cemetery, which serves as a resting place for many American soldiers killed during World War I, he made brief but eloquent remarks in honor of those brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom and justice. His remarks follow and I commend them to my colleagues and everyone else who reads the Congressional Record as a most fitting Memorial Day tribute: We are gathered in a cemetery consecrated by the sacrifice of soldiers of our countries who died in the final days of what, in their time, was called the ``Great War'' and ``The War To End All Wars.'' It was a battle so fierce that almost a century later, as we gaze across their places of rest, we can still feel their valor and their anguish. These crosses, row on row, carry remembrance forward, and so does the annual reappearance of the poppies in these fields.…”