Recognizing the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation

Floor Speech

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Mr. CROW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation (CFM) and celebrate its 10th anniversary. The CFM Foundation is a non-profit corporation maintained by a network of volunteers that seeks to provide a place of reverence for Coloradans who left to fight for freedom and never returned.

After a visit to the Normandy American Cemetery in France, founder Rick Crandall learned that 88 servicemembers from Colorado were buried there. Curious about how many Coloradans had been lost in all of America's wars, Rick made it his mission to create a space to honor the Colorado servicemembers killed in action. After more than a decade of work, the CFM Foundation erected the Colorado Freedom Memorial in 2013. symbolically bringing Colorado's once-lost men and women back home.

The Colorado Freedom Memorial, located in Aurora, Colorado, holds the names of 5,990 Coloradans killed or missing in action, with an additional 102 names awaiting inscription. The names, which span from the Spanish-American War to present day. are organized by conflict, but are intentionally out of alphabetical order to evoke the chaos of war. As long as war is a reality, the lives and names of Coloradans will continue to be added to the memorial to honor the ultimate sacrifice they made in service to our Nation.

In the ten years since the memorial was dedicated, thousands have come to visit, pay their respects, and remember those who served. The Colorado Freedom Memorial is not only a solemn space for memorial services and ceremonies but is a place of grief and healing for families that never had a cemetery to visit the loved ones they lost.

I commend the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation and its volunteers for their ongoing effort to ensure that no Coloradan is forgotten.

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