On the recordJuly 28, 2014
It was called the ``war to end all wars.'' It began on July 28, 1914, 100 years ago today. It concluded in 1918, only after millions had died. It was just the first of many wars in the last century. It was at a stalemate in the bloody, deadly trenches of Europe in 1917 when tenacious American Doughboys entered the battle. It was World War I. Over 100,000 young American warriors never returned. One was President Teddy Roosevelt's son, Quentin. Thousands more died from the Spanish flu that they contracted. The last American survivor was Frank Buckles, Jr., who lived to be 110. I got to know Buckles, as did many other Members of Congress. His dying wish was that a memorial be erected on the Mall to honor all the Americans who fought in the Great War: those that returned, those that returned with the wounds of war, and those that did not return. It is unfortunate and tragic that a memorial has not been erected because, as it has been said, the worst casualty of war is to be forgotten. And that is just the way it is. ____________________
