Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. We have come to this floor on any number of occasions honoring people, but I think this may be the noblest moment that I have risen on the floor, because, in this instance, it is not to name a stamp after Wilt Chamberlain from Philadelphia or the train station after Congressman Gray, but this is to acknowledge a young man who graduated from high school in 1966 and, within a year or so, joined, enlisted, and went off to war on behalf of his country in a faraway place. He finished at Cardinal Dougherty High School. He played varsity baseball there. He played basketball in a summer league at Simons Recreation Center. He grew up in West Oak Lane in my district, on the 7400 block of Thouron Avenue. But the Corporal Crescenz whom we honor today is someone who, even though he was only in country for just a mere few months, when this attack took place, he grabbed a machinegun and he went towards the fire. It has been recounted when President Nixon awarded him the Medal of Honor, he took out one machinegun nest, he took out another, he then took out a third. Then when a camouflaged artillery post opened up, he charged at it, and that is when he took this mortal round. But this is a young man who really, I think, represents everything that is important about American ideals because he lived a life of service on behalf of his country. He took it on himself to face challenge in a faraway place.…”