Recognizing Korean War Veterans

Floor Speech

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize veterans of the Korean war as this month marks the 72nd anniversary of the war's beginning.

Sadly, the Korean war is too often referred to as the forgotten war. I am here today to recognize the 5.7 million American men and women who served in that war, along with seven Korean war veterans our community lost in the past year: Albert A. Fowler, Ralph M. Lanza, Thomas H. O'Rourke, Nicholas J. Matranga, Walter H. Zipf, Robert Klose, and Hermando J. Folla.

These veterans put their lives on the line to defend our Nation and to fight communism, and we are forever grateful for their service.

This past weekend, I joined the Corporal Allan Kivlehan Chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association and local members of the Korean- American community to honor them.

Last year, I also honored the life and legacy of Private First Class Raymond Andrew Smith as his remains returned to Brooklyn 71 years after he was reported missing in action.

While the return of Raymond's remains is something to be celebrated, our Nation must not forget that more than 81,600 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the Cold War, the Gulf war, and other conflicts.

On Monday, the anniversary of D-day, I was honored to receive a POW/ MIA Chair of Honor from our local Rolling Thunder chapter to display in my office as a permanent tribute to the brave men and women who honorably served our Nation overseas, but sadly never made it home.

I urge my colleagues to consider doing the same because we all must do more as a grateful Nation to raise attention to this issue and diligently work to return all prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action back to our homeland.

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