Beginning at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Last week, congressman brian mast spoke on the house floor about his time in the army, fellow soldiers killed in action, and some who gave their lives to save others. Mr. Mast mr. Speaker, i rise on the heels of memorial day to discuss what we must learn from those we specifically remember on this and every memorial day going forward. All among us, every Single Person in this chamber, every Single Person that visits here, we all have those days of the that isre the history buried down deep inside of us and stirred up for whatever reason that maybe, for some of us, maybe we lost a loved one right around christmas and now we cannot get through the holidays without remembering that person each year and the ways in which that person touched our life. For others, maybe it was right around your birth day when you lost a loved one or someone passed and on each year of the celebration of your own life, you find yourself remembering the loss of that life, the loss of that friend. Maybe for you, that history is buried down inside and get stirred up because of a certain smell in the air that brings you back to a time and place in your life. You could be hearing a special song that had meaning that connected that person to you. Maybe it is driving past a certain restaurant, intersection or part that weighs heavily on your heart. I find those feelings each and every day as i look down at my wrist and i read these bracelets with the names of friends who left this world in the most honorable way anyone can in defense of our nation. Like army ranger medic. Onathan penny on his fourth tour in 1,hanistan, he died on june 2010, from wounds that he sustained while giving medical aid to another wounded ranger. He was only 22 years old. When i speak to his mother, i know just how much she misses him. Or Sergeant Justin allen. He was killed on july 18, 2010. I cannot member the last thing i said to him. I remember the mission vividly that we were on and i remember the rangers who spoke about him the next day on the flight line as we sent him home. Remember bradley rapoon and Andrew Nichol and the assault compound we passed. For many others across the nation, the day that stands out for us is a day that is just a few days from now, it is memorial day. The day america has specifically set aside to remember the men and women who really wished their life while serving in the United States armed forces and it rests as the day most heavy on our hearts. This day is so heavy on my heart that to my shame, one year, i asked my wife that she and our children not accompany me to the cemetery, that i was going to be speaking at that memorial day, i ask that she stay at home with my two little boys. I made that request because i did not want my little boys to see me in pain. At that point in life, i was not Strong Enough to tell them why their daddy had tears or was crying on that day. Today, i try to be more courageous. And i try to tell my boys why i have tears on that and every memorial day. Solemnr i hear the slow, whether it is on memorial day or veterans day or in the presence of some newly or playing on, the tv in the background, i have to pause. And wipe my eyes and regain my composure. Crackn i hear that cold of the 21 gun salute, i find myself to numb to the sound of gunfire to be startled by it, but it still reverberates to my core as though i was struck by the shots myself. Mine needle boys of to know that there were brave men and brave women who showed strength and courage and patriotism with every fiber of their being on their half, that they may live free, that they say live free think about that. They served never thinking about personal gain or personal sacrifice, but inking about their personal contribution to our nation. As we find ourselves on the heels of memorial day, i believe every member of this house, every member of Congress Must reflect on every tear shed across this nation, every empty seat at every dinner table, every name etched onto a piece of stone that is for a son or daughter of america who gave everything for the freedom and the life of others. We in this chamber must think daily about the men and women who have fought and died for this cause. This nation that a loved more than their own breath i think about those i knew personally. About. Hat i have heard i think about those who came long before me and i ask myself every single day, would they be proud . Would they be proud of the work we do in this chamber and the values that a fought for and gave their life for . Memberhey want us as a of their team . I used to tell folks that today in our theater of war, ive lost 67 closed at that used to be true. The truth is i no longer know how many friends ive lost. Ice. Counting. We must live the way we lived every day. Regret excuse, without am a full throttle as one of my friends would say. For some, their blood has stained my own uniform. Some i lost simply being on the same mission. Some were on other missions in other parts of the world. Most often of one of my friends specifically Ranger Sergeant first class lance vogler who after four tours in iraq and eight tours in afghanistan made the ultimate sacrifice on october 1, 2010. While in battle just a few short days after my injury, i know he is deeply missed by me and his friends and certainly by his wife and two children that he left behind. I cannot member him telling me one night as we were in afghanistan and he and i sat against the fence in the dark of night waiting for a helicopter to come and pick us up. I cannot member him telling us about his family. I was not there when he passed, but im told his last words were of his wife and of his children. Proudk often would he be of the way this place conducts itself. These the definition of a hero. He is exactly what memorial day honors and knowing him, i know none of us here can measure up. But i want to know that we honor him and every other hero to is room and officially without actions in here each and every day. We know it to men like him to fight to make america the strongest version of it self that it can never be. I want us to honor each of those Close Friends ive lost in our theaters of war and every other illustrated their life for our freedom, for our america with their own actions on each day. As we approach memorial day, i those things about those friends. I remember there smiles and the jokes we would play on each other. I remember hiding someones gear or adding a big rock into their pack without them knowing, just to way it down and make them sweat a little more. I can remember where they were from. I cannot member the time we spent training together, shooting together, jumping out of aircraft together, blowing things up together. I can remember their hobbies and their plans for what they wanted to do when they returned home. I can remember the pictures that they themselves would carry in their breast pocket of the ones they loved most, just like the one i would carry of my wife and our one son that i had at that time. I remember their lifesaving actions on the battlefield. I remember their acts of valor and the way that we each confidently put our lives in each others hands. Are nober some that longer with us today who placed themselves in line of fire. Carried me from the battlefield that i not become a casualty of war. I remember their loyalty and determination and their grit. Some of them, i can member their last breath. I remember saluting their casket with the most beautiful flag i have ever seen draped gracefully across it. I can remember seeing that flag folded and handed to those whose pictures they had been carrying. I cant member seeing the way those family members would cling to that flag. I i remembered these moments, want to see more than anything that the way we here in the house of representatives conduct ourselves honors the way those who gave the last eight of their heart, conducted themselves on our behalf. Womens of those men and surrounded our floor here. Usld they look onto each of each day and would they swell with pride over our service or would their hearts sink . Would they turn away and be ashamed . Would they look on and be proud . The goal of american heroes has always been Country First, themselves second. They knew those who gave on behalf of this place that the establishment of this country, the maintenance of america, its safety and protection of each and every citizen is not a product chance. It is not a product of luck, not a product of indifference. They stood between every american and evil with purpose and resolve, regardless of what it was going to cost. They knew the job was never easy. It was never safe. It was always dangerous and almost always deadly. While they may have disagreed on how to conduct a mission, i know they never wished for this failure of their comrades or for that matter, the failure of any american ever. Wished fornly never the failure of the leaders of our nation. My office is in the Rayburn Office building and in one of our entrances is the name of each has fallen in the war on terror. , all ofearbyyear those friends mine are listed there. And when i see them, i stop and i think about them every single time. Wish that the name of every single american who has fallen in the defense of our nation but door and each and every wall of this chamber here as it does in my office building, that we would look on each time we speak on this floor and question ourselves as to whether our motives are as pure as their motives were. Child, every adult, every man and woman has the limitless opportunities to enjoy their life, to become whatever it is the world they want to be too achieve whatever they have the courage to attempt and the determination and fortitude to send themselves and fully to accomplish. That limitless opportunity each citizen has an each of us in the house is afforded, it has been paid for with the blood and spirit of men and women who traded their own life to fulfill an oath to our great nation. , that weh was the same as members of congress fell to and defend support the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and mastec, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same and take that obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help us god. Oath, ie take that same know we do not always show the same commitment. Those heroes never thought about what was easy or popular to masses or what they would get out of their actions. It was not reelection on the line for them. It was their life on the line and they gave it freely. Day, iink about memorial wish we could see every heroic name across our wall here and recall a harrowing stories of the Second World War and the over 400,000 u. S. Army, air force and navy, marine and every merchant marine who fought in the pacific and africa for the freedom of the entire world from being ruled by an evil and intolerant empire. Named midwayplaces and guadalcanal. I wish we thought about each vote that we took and looked at the names of our over 36,000 servicemembers who would never return home from the frozen mud of korea and think is that what they fought for at the chosen reservoir . I wish we could recount the names and the stories of the over 58 house and servicemembers who died in combat or while captured or it went through torture and starvation before giving their life or missing in. Laces like caisson in saigon i wish we saw the names of the servicemembers who put their Country First and themselves second while serving in the Dominican Republic or iran or el salvador or panama or the persian gulf, as we thought a lot what we will say when we are given the chance to speak on this floor and if our words would be worth even one second of their life. Think about the delta operators or black hawk pilots who gave it all in the dusty sands of somalia, medal of honor recipients like Master Sergeant gary gordon and Sergeant First Class randall stood guard who volunteered to go into situations that they knew would claim their life. They were devoted to their duty and their duty was to their brothers and to their country. Those who fought and died in bosnia and kosovo and on the uss cole and those who fought them places where we may never know because of threats to us that we never even knew existed. We need to ask if they would give the last eight of their heart for the way in which we legislate our country. Most personally for me, i would think deeply on the thousands of ,oldiers, sailors, marines airmen and coast guardsmen who defended this country with the last beats of their heart in a place like iraq or afghanistan or syria. Would they be proud . These were the men and women i served alongside, men and women who served selflessly and repeatedly year after year, knowing full well that hazards of their profession. I could not be more proud than to have the few moments i did with the rest and most honorable our nation has ever produced to sacrifice their whole self the menit was test for and women to the left and right in battle because it was best for the freedom and liberty and security of every person. I dont know how to make the pain of their loss go away. I do know how to honor them. We do it with the way we live each day going forward, that day do not have the opportunity to live. They would want every american to cherish the gift of freedom they had been given by god, which was defended by those angels whose names are at in row after row of plain white markers in Arlington National cemetery. They would want us all to live exactly as they lived, with no regrets, loving this country more than we loved ourselves, fighting as hard as they fought, never quitting, never giving up, and we owe it to them to do so. To not ask what we can take for ourselves, but to ask what we ourselves can give. I want my kids to grow up honoring these men and women who honored this sacrifice. I want my young boys to know they get to give me a hug or a smile, but there are men and women who are willing to risk never having one more of those from their own family and i want them to live the way those heroes live. I want my children to know it is honorable to have the courage to mourn them and i want them to courage tohave the resolve, to not squander the opportunities that have been paid for with the selfless lot of every american warrior. I get grief in my heart when i think of all of those who have gone in defense of our flag. Think about each of the great warriors that they were and i smile because there can be no more honorable way to leave this world than in a tile of brass while fighting for the greatest nation to be established on the face of this earth. We hear need to think of the thousands who gave their life selflessly, without expert tatian of anything in return. True selfless service, doing what is best for the United States of america. Somewhere infantrymen, somewhere engineers or tankers or something else. They were men and women that through the ages created the legacy and tradition of made me say that what i want to be. That is how i want to serve. That is how i want to help. Learn from those who we think about most on to look aty, we need them and their names and their lives and their story and sacrifice and demand the same thing out of ourselves. They pushed through the cold, they pushed through the snow. They pushed without adequate supplies and they always pushed forward in the face of om barding. They pushed so hard that their weapon would overheat. They pushed through trench foot and did it with fixed bayonets to defend their own foxholes and then use them to carve our enemy out of their foxholes. Whenstayed in the fight they were wounded even though it would certainly mean a utter and that was far from home. They did not stop because they were tired. They did not stop as they were freezing or hungry. They did it even though they knew they had to sleep on the ground or sometimes never sleep at all. They only stopped when the job was done. They only stopped when the was accomplished. This is the grid with which americans have always invented america. We have taken that same both in this house and american heroes, everyet the precedent for generation about how to do that job. To do it for them was not just a job or a paycheck, it was a calling. Few had theling stomach to undertake and certainly even fewer are capable of doing. It requires uncommon characteristics such as courage and valor and selflessness. Today, those words are thrown around lightly by many. Those we are a member on memorial day have lived and breathed the definition of these characteristics. They did it by flying aircraft were driving armored vehicles. A did it setting sale of the most powerful fleet ever seen on our seas. They did it by yoking their bodies with a rifle or pistol, by carrying hundreds of rounds ofammunition, and hundreds pounds of gear, wearing a helmet and explosives, carrying everything required to save the life of another servicemember, as well as everything they needed to survive four days or months on end. They did it while being targeted by snipers, while having bombs, mortars or grenades hurled at them, while having an rpg fired at them. Did it while walking in fields of mines and improvised explosive devices. They did it by carrying that road for miles and days across mt. General in hills, through fields, forests and rivers. They did it carrying letters for their friends which they promised to deliver to their family should anything ever happen to them. They did it while missing births and birthdays and ballgames and bath times and holidays and every other good time they missed with their families. They did it in the face of mortal kombat. They did it while holding the lives of their friends and the lives of their enemies in their hands. We honor those we remember who are not with us today i taking no charge more seriously than honoring their sacrifice with the lies with the lives that we now live. What those heroes have done in defense of our nation can never be taken away from them. That what we do in defense cannot be taken away by the years that have passed. If we endeavor to be warriors willing to defend america at any and all costs, those we remember our a testament to the importance of the values and to the fabric, those absolutes, thank god for the men and women like that for creating such patriots for us to revere as the standard by which all other americans should serve america. And i yield back the balance of my time. At 10 p. M. On cspan eastern, addresses from senator cory booker, Vice President mike pence, illinois senat