(WASHINGTON) — Today, U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10) issued the following statement ahead of Memorial Day:
“On Monday, May 30, our nation will observe Memorial Day, recognizing the sacrifice and honoring the service of those who have died in defense of our nation.
“While Memorial Day has become as well a symbolic kickoff of the summer season, it is first and foremost a somber celebration, dedicated to honoring the memory of those whose future summers were foreclosed forever on our behalf.
“There are no words to adequately express our gratitude to them, or the sympathy we feel for those who loved and mourn them.
“Yet it remains our obligation to convey in whatever way we can how thankful we remain, and to pray for those in today’s Armed Services who remain in harm’s way on our behalf, with the fervent hope that each of them will return home to enjoy the freedom their sacrifice made possible.
“From the time of this nation’s founding, millions of its citizens have placed themselves in harm’s way to preserve and defend the “self-evident” truths of the American idea as articulated in the Declaration of Independence. That “all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
“Thanks to those whose earthly pursuits all ended on the battlefield, the American idea survives into the 21st century. On Memorial Day, we can, and should, say thank you.”
