Honoring Their Tremendous Sacrifice, Bravery, and Courage

Statement

This Memorial Day, I join North Carolinians and Americans alike in honoring the tremendous sacrifice, bravery, and courage of all men and women in uniform past and present. Today we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our safety and protect our freedom.

Throughout my time serving North Carolina, I've had the honor of witnessing the incredible sense of duty our servicemembers display as they leave loved ones behind to protect our safety and security here at home. Our state is blessed to have one of the largest military populations in the country and I could not be more grateful to the men and women who faithfully represent the Tar Heel state in the United States military.

We must fight every day for our veterans, just as they have fought for us. North Carolina's veterans have risked their lives to keep our nation secure and we must fight to make our economy more secure for them. I'm proud that my colleagues and I worked to pass the Brass to Class Act, which created a streamlined process for returning veterans to receive college credit for time served in the military towards their undergraduate degree. Brass to Class also provides much needed job-placement services for veterans in North Carolina. We have also made efforts to improve infrastructure needs in and around North Carolina's military installations at Cherry Point, Ft. Bragg, and Camp LeJeune.

Still, we do not do enough -- not nearly enough -- for the men and women who have sacrificed so much for us. We can never begin to repay the debt of gratitude we owe to those who risked -- and lost- their lives in defense of our freedom.

Today, we honor not only those who have served but are currently serving as well as mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, siblings, friends and so many others who lend America their loved ones to protect ours. Most of all, we honor and remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and cannot be here with us today. So, on behalf of my freedom and my family, thank you to our men and women in uniform for making America's great experiment in democracy possible. May God bless the soldiers who have given the last full measure of devotion to our country and may He continue to bless the loved ones they left behind.

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