Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, many of us in this House will attend Memorial Day ceremonies over the weekend as we honor those who have died in the service to this great Nation. Certainly, in this office, one of the more difficult but one of the most honored opportunities is to be at the grave site of our fallen heroes as they are laid to rest and that American flag, which flies over our Capitol, is draped over their coffin. On this Memorial Day, I really want to highlight my brother-in-law, Larry Emerman, who in the fall of 1980, in the service of this country as a pilot in the United States Navy as a lieutenant commander, lost his life in the service of our Nation. Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is one of America's most solemn occasions. The tradition of Memorial Day dates back to 1864 in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, which is considered to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Three ladies decorated the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers, and the custom has continued every year since then. It was an early fall day, in 1864, when Emma Hunter and her friend, Sophie Keller, picked flowers and went to the old cemetery to lay them on the grave of Emma's father, Reuben Hunter. Dr. Hunter was a young Boalsburg doctor at the time of the Civil War. When he volunteered to serve with the Army of the North, he was assigned to the hospital in Baltimore.…”