Memorial Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, our national anthem closes with the lines ``O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?'' Usually sung as a declaration, the song's author actually intended for this to be a question, because while we often take our freedom as a guarantee, it should never be taken for granted.

President Ronald Reagan once said:

Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

Our freedom depends on men and women who are willing to defend it no matter what the cost.

This coming weekend, we will observe Memorial Day. It started as Decoration Day for the 1860s. Congress made Memorial Day a national holiday in 1968.

Many people would take this day as an opportunity to cook out, go to the lake, go to the pool, be around friends, but that is not the purpose of this day. It is a time to reflect on the sacrifices that have been made for all of our freedom--those who made the ultimate sacrifice and the honorable families they leave behind.

I think we can all agree our fallen heroes deserve to be remembered for more than one day a year. That is why I introduced the resolution to designate May as ``Fallen Heroes Memorial Month.'' I appreciate my friend Congressman Dan Bishop of North Carolina for introducing this resolution in the House. I hope our colleagues will join us in passing this resolution because there is no cause more deserving for our time and effort.

Setting aside a month to recognize our fallen servicemembers and their families instead of one day is the least we all can do.

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