Marcy Kaptur: “let me say what a rare privilege it is to come to the floor this evening to talk about this coming Memorial Day weekend…”

“let me say what a rare privilege it is to come to the floor this evening to talk about this coming Memorial Day weekend, particularly on May 29 when we as a Nation will not only celebrate Memorial Day, but the dedication of the World War II Memorial on our Nation's Mall of Democracy. This evening, I would like to talk a little bit about the history of that memorial, how it happened, and refer in particular to a brand new book that has just come out called ``Their Last Battle,'' by Dr. Nicolaus Mills from Sarah Lawrence College, which so well documents the history of this memorial's construction. When we think about the memorial, obviously it is to the most unselfish generation America has ever known. And if we think back to our own history, the location of this memorial at the center of our Mall of Democracy, between the Washington Monument, which represents the founding of our Republic and George Washington as our first President in the 18th century, and then on the other side, close to the Potomac River, the Lincoln Memorial, representing the preservation of our union in the 19th century and President Abraham Lincoln, and then this memorial, representing the most important achievement of the 20th century, the victory of liberty over tyranny in a just war. The World War II generation is one that never asked for anything for itself.”