Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H. Res. 129, which recommits us to the sacred task of accounting fully for our troops who are still missing and unaccounted for in past wars and conflicts. From World War II onward, more than 82,000 U.S. personnel have not come home and are not accounted for. That means that for tens of thousands of American families, friends, and comrades in arms, the pain of uncertainty continues to this very day. This resolution also calls upon foreign nations to fully cooperate and to provide the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency with all information on our missing personnel that those countries may have. It is especially appropriate that we are considering this resolution this week, which marks the 45th anniversary of Operation Homecoming, which secured the return of more than 550 American prisoners of war from Vietnam. This group that left Hanoi on February 12, 1973, included an American fighter pilot whose F-4 had been shot down over North Vietnam in 1966. When he ejected from his plane, he had suffered a broken arm, a broken back, and a dislocated shoulder, but that was only the start of his ordeal. This pilot spent nearly 7 years as a prisoner of war, enduring torture, abuse, and an incomprehensible 3 years in solitary confinement.…”