With humility, we acknowledge our unworthiness to be their successors, just as they, in turn, felt their own unworthiness to succeed the long line of noble men stretching back to the first fathers of our glorious Republic. As we pause to do honor to their memory we suddenly find ourselves listening to other voices, the voices of our American boys, descendants of tired, poor, huddled masses, who entered through the golden door and found their pathway brightened by the torch of liberty. Boys who made the supreme sacrifice of their lives in order to protect and immortalize the soul of America. The poppies cannot bloom on Iwo-land in row on row, as told of Flanders' field; Black sands of hell and blood-soaked sacred strand Where liberty-or-death's blood bathed proud shields, Brave devil-dogs from halls of Montezuma Who tamed the pirates well at Tripoli Now sanctify their blood on Iwo Jima -George William Cooper. They died for you and for you more than any individuals in our beloved America; because you and I are keepers of the light you and I are guardians of the torch, you and I are to hand down to future generations that soul of America which is worth fighting for, which is worth dying for, and God grant that we hand it down as clean, as untarnished, and as strong as our departed colleagues handed it to us. American liberty is based on the recognition that freedom is not merely a constitutional right, nor merely a natural right, nor simply a human right, nor a social right. It is, above all things else, a spiritual right. Let dictators talk with benevolent suggestions of giving freedom; our answer was heard in the roar of cannons, the barking of guns, the whirring of planes that dropped protesting bombs. And those bombs, as they hurled down from the skies, screamed back our answer "All men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights." With that endowment of God, and with the faculty of free will, there came to every man the gift of conscience which tells him not what he would like selfishly to do, not what he must do, but what, as an intelligent being, and a social unit, he ought to do. America, recognizing the brotherhood of man, appreciates the nature of man as a self-directing individual who, recognizing his responsibilities before God, before his fellow men, and before his country, can be trusted to make the right and proper choice a choice that will redound to the good of all. That idealism approaches reality when we scan the records of our young men in our camps, on our ships, in our planes, on our battlefields, in our "God's acres" where stand the crosses row on row. That ideal found realization in the services rendered by our young women as Wacs and Waves and Spars, as cadet nurses, as Red Cross nurses, as workers in our defense plants. That ideal found realization on the home front when even necessities were sacrificed so that still another bond might make victory more secure and more lasting. Oh, yes, my colleagues, "there are such things," and thank God, that at least in this part of the universe, there are such things. And if we feel heavy with a sense of our responsibility in the task set before us in the most critical days of our Nation and of the world, let us rededicate ourselves at that hallowed shrine of liberty and, putting our hands into the hand of God, go forth with courage, with determination, with faith in a future that must bring lasting peace for men and for us in our own time, eternal rest and everlasting reward. It took the hell of war to make men realize that there are no atheists in fox holes. It will take the hell of the struggle for peace to make civilization realize that there can be no atheism in government if we who have won an earthly victory are to win an eternal triumph. No nation can live without acknowledgment of a Supreme Being. Governments founded on atheism are but meteors flashing temporarily across the skies of the international firmament. Their light blazes brilliantly and illuminates the world momentarily, only to fade out on the distant horizon, forgotten in the ages. Governments founded on a belief in God and dependence on a Supreme Being are perpetual lights, burning eternally, held aloft as beacons to the downtrodden peoples who seek not to conquer the world but to save their own immortal souls. As long as America keeps its immortal soul will freedom and independence live. When America loses its immortal soul freedom and independence die. America has always recognized the existence of God. Yes; the Jehovah of the Jews, as well as the Christ of the Protestants and the Catholics-the God of Jew and Christian, the Supreme Being of all mankind. There is no atheism in the concept of government which inspired the organization of the United States of America. There can be no atheism in a government whose Declaration of Independence begins by admitting the goodness of God and who proudly proclaims to the world, "In God we trust." No, my colleagues, there can be no compromise between a government of atheism and a government of God. There can be no deviation from the course set by those who have gone before us. If we are to keep faith with those who have died we must avoid both Scylla and Charybdis. We must face the danger and meet the challenge with the same fortitude and determination with which they met it while they lived and served here. Today from Valhalla they can smile on those of us who have been left behind to carry on where they who have gone left off, with the full knowledge and satisfaction that we shall keep burning the light and shall keep open the golden door of the Goddess of Liberty, symbolic of the immortal soul of America, because we, too, like those who have lived and died, know it would profit America nothing to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of her immortal soul. Good night, a sweet good night, my departed colleagues; rest your weary heads on the bosom of endless time, sleep in the comfort of eternal peace; we shall not break faith with you-the immortal soul of America shall not be lost. Hon. LOUIS C. RABAUT sang Softly and Tenderly, by Will L. Thompson, accompanied by Joan Marie Rabaut at the piano. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling Calling for you and for me; See at the portals He's waiting and watching, Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come home; Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling; Calling for you and for me. Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, Pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not His mercies, Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come home; Calling for you and for me. The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. McGregor). ADDRESS BY HON. J. HARRY M'GREGOR Mr. SPEAKER: This day has been set aside as one of reflection upon the past; as a day on which to recall to our minds with special significance those colleagues who have labored with us for varying periods of time, some briefly and others for a lengthy span, but all of whom gave their devoted and unselfish efforts to the cause of our representative form of government toward the end that this Nation might have truly a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." We came here today to pay respect to men entitled to our respect. It is a significant thing that the House pauses to do honor to those who have striven, and striven hard, to be worthy of this place. We have met in solemn exercise to express as best we can our regret at the passing of these friends and colleagues. And in the memorial exercises of this day I wish I could adequately and eloquently picture of them the commendable things which they did and said in the service of this Congress. The Members of the House know well the extreme mental and physical exertions required in the performance of service as a Representative of the people, and it is not to be doubted that many of our colleagues whom we remember and cherish today paid the price of a shortened existence on this earth as a result of their constant and conscientious response to their multitude of exacting and pressing duties. Service here in the capacity of a faithful servant of the people involves, as all of us recognize, not only mental and physical efforts, challenging to a high degree, but also other sacrifices and obligations which need not be detailed here because of our common knowledge of them. Since our last memorial service, seven Members of this Congress have departed from these scenes to answer the roll call yonder. These stalwart souls gave their lives, or a generous portion thereof, in the service of their country, and it is for us who remain to carry on, holding high the banner of freedom and permitting no power, or combination of powers, to bring down that emblem, but to keep it ever flying over everything that we love and prize in our individual and collective lives. |