Czechs Appreciate American Sacrifices for Liberation

CZECHS APPRECIATE AMERICAN SACRIFICES FOR LIBERATION -- (Extensions of Remarks - May 12, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. JOE WILSON
OF SOUTH CAROLINA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2005

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, I was honored to join Congressman Jack Kingston as he led a delegation for a wreath laying and dedication of a monument in Pilsen, Czech Republic, to the veterans of the U.S. Army who liberated Western Bohemia of Czechoslovakia in May 1945.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus presided with Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and Pilsen Mayor Miroslav Kalous. The large double columns of the monument symbolizing Czech-American friendship were hailed by the U.S. Presidential delegation led by Veterans Administration Secretary Jim Nicholson. The American delegation was hosted by Ambassador William Cabaniss, a former Alabama State Senator, who delivered a letter from Congressman Spencer Bachus and Birmingham Rotarians to establish the city of Pilsen as the sister city of Birmingham, Alabama.

The impressive monument corrects a distortion of history, where former communist oppressors bizarrely claimed that Americans had not been present and that the liberators were Soviet troops in American uniforms. Fortunately, the long suppressed truth is now clearly marked, proudly proclaiming "Thank You America" for the U.S. Army in May 1945.

On April 29, 2005, prior to attending the festivities, Diane Brown presented me the following article written by her neighbor Jana Culik of Chapin, South Carolina. Her story is an inspiring personal account of heroism and appreciation of the United States by the Czech people who now live in a liberated democracy that enjoys membership in NATO and the EU.

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