Let Us Never Forget Our Missing in Action

Floor Speech

Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. Speaker, today, I just want to come and reflect for just a moment on a lady that I met a few weeks ago on Loyalty Day.

Many Americans don't know about Loyalty Day. It is still recognized by the VFW--still. It is a day of remembrance around May 1, a celebration time. It is a remembrance and a time to recognize the freedom that we have in America.

This lady, Zona Cockrell of Shawnee, Oklahoma, stood and talked with me about not only Loyalty Day, but about her husband and about her husband's passion that people would not forget those that are missing in Korea still.

You see, Zona Cockrell's husband, Charles Cockrell, served in the United States Marine Corps. He served in Korea from 1951-1953. He led a group of people; eight of them did not return. They were never found. They were considered missing in action.

Many Americans still, today, do not realize that we have 7,883 people still officially listed as missing in action from the Korean war.

His passion was that his buddies would never, ever be forgotten. Mr. Cockrell died 2 years ago, and he passed on that legacy to his wife and said: Don't let anyone forget my buddies that never came home from Korea and were never found.

Last year, she had installed, at her own expense, a black granite bench in Shawnee, Oklahoma, at the Woodlands Veterans Park. She spent her own money--$2,500--to be able to put that granite bench there. That bench just reads, ``Let us not forget those left in Korea.''

Mrs. Cockrell is still carrying out her husband's wish. She is still challenging the Nation not to forget, and when I met her that day, that was her one emphasis: do not allow them to be forgotten.

Officially, we still have missing there. They are missing, but not forgotten.

When her husband grew sick and that legacy passed on to her, she turned to me and asked me to pass it on to the Nation, which I will fulfill today.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me just remind us of a statement that she made. She said:

They gave me my freedom. These people gave their heart, their soul, and their blood, so we could be free.

Today, in Washington, D.C., not far from here, there is a man standing with a rifle in front of the Tomb of the Unknowns. He will pace back and forth in honor and in recognition of people who will not be forgotten.

Memorial Day is not just a single day in America. Memorial Day is every day in America for those who choose not to forget. We do not. We are grateful, as a Nation, for their incredible sacrifice and our ability to live free here because they stood for us.

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