Memorial Day: Honoring Those We Lost, Supporting Those Who Remain

Statement

Over 140 years ago, Americans began honoring those who died in service to their country by annually setting aside time to decorate the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers. The first Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was originally called, was celebrated in 1868, and though our military, its mission and its operations have changed dramatically since then, our commitment to remembering the servicemen and women we have lost endures.

This Memorial Day let us pay tribute to those who died while protecting our borders and our ideals, including the 4,400 Americans who have died in Iraq and more than 1,500 who have died in Afghanistan. Their courage and dedication is the foundation upon which America's freedom and security rests. For their sacrifice while protecting us both at home and abroad, the debt we owe each fallen hero and their loved ones is immeasurable and can never truly be repaid.

The men and women who died in uniform were no doubt guided by a tremendous sense of duty to America and their fellow citizens. As a grateful nation, we must be guided by a similar sense of duty to the 1,478,000 active duty Armed Services personnel and 850,159 selected reservists who protect us now, the 3.1 million military family members who support them, and the 22.6 million veterans who have already served honorably.

Here in California's 37th Congressional District, we currently have 21,048 troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan; a total of 195,760 have served since 2001. It has been my honor to represent these constituents, and I am extremely proud that from 2007-2010, under Democratic Leadership, Congress showed unprecedented support for the troops, their families, and veterans by:

* Strengthening health care for more than 5 million veterans, with a historic commitment -- including the largest single increase in the history of the VA -- for more doctors and nurses, better access for rural veterans, and expanded efforts to treat the signature injuries of the war, PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury, while enacting a law to ensure that politics never get in the way of timely and predictable funding for veterans' health care and to address the health care needs of our nearly 2 million female veterans.

* Providing troops and veterans the benefits they have earned and resources they need, giving troops a pay raise, restoring military readiness, providing the best training and equipment for the men and women serving in our Armed Forces, taking steps to reduce the backlog and wait for veterans trying to access their earned benefits, providing special payments for service members and veterans were forced to serve under stop-loss orders since 2001, and making headway in ending the Disabled Veterans Tax and the Military Families' Tax.

* Strengthening support for military families, building more military child care centers and better military family housing, and enacting landmark legislation to provide much needed support for family members and other caregivers for wounded veterans.

So I ask you: Do you know someone who gave their life so that we many live ours? Was it your spouse or your child? Your neighbor or a friend from school? Even if you have not been fortunate enough to personally know one of these true American heroes, you most certainly benefit each and every day from their valor and sacrifice.

Please take a moment to say thank you for the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen of the U.S. Armed Services. On this Memorial Day and each day until the next, let us remember those we have lost and honor their memory by recommitting ourselves to the support of those who remain.

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