Political Quotes

“I will be brief because I know my colleagues wish to join in this wonderful activity here to try and get good recognition. I join my colleague from North Dakota in strong support of a cause near and dear to my heart: the effort to add the names of 74 sailors to the Vietnam War Memorial who perished in a training accident that sunk the USS Frank E. Evans in June of 1969. As my friend from North Dakota explained, the names of the 74 who died on the USS Frank E. Evans have been omitted because they died just outside of the combat zone, but they had seen the heat of battle in Vietnam. The USS Frank E. Evans had been part of the Tet offensive and was scheduled to return to the combat zone before sinking. That these men's lives ended in the tragedy of a training accident rather than in the line of fire makes no difference in the final analysis. They went off to war and laid down their lives in the service of the country they loved I was fortunate to know Larry Reilly, Sr., of Syracuse, NY--known to us as Chief Reilly, who was serving on the Frank E. Evans alongside his son, Larry Reilly, Jr., on that fateful day in 1969. Larry Sr. survived that day. Junior did not. For the rest of his life, Chief Reilly petitioned his country to give his son and his fellow shipmates the very least it could give to them-- due recognition.…”