TRANSCRIPT: Majority Leader Schumer Remarks At Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony Honoring The Thirteen Fallen Service Members For Their Sacrifice At Hamid Karzai International Airport
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke at the Congressional Medal Ceremony to award the highest Congressional honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to the 13 service members who lost their lives in defense of innocent civilians at the Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Speaker Johnson, Leader McConnell, Leader Jeffries, families and friends of the fallen service members, my colleagues, my fellow Americans:
President Kennedy reminded us that a nation reveals itself not only by the people it produces, but also by those it remembers.
Today, we gather in the Capitol to remember the thirteen brave souls who gave their last full measure of devotion in the horrific attack three years ago in Kabul, Afghanistan.
We honor their memories by awarding them the highest honor that the Congress has to offer, the Congressional Gold Medal, for their sacrifice while evacuating citizens at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Nothing – nothing – we can do today can bring them back, but through this award, we swear their memories will live forever.
To us, these thirteen Americans were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, spouses, friends, loved ones. Some were even younger than the war in Afghanistan itself.
But to the citizens desperately trying to escape the Taliban’s rule through Abbey Gate on that fateful day, these thirteen Americans were something more: Heroes. Guardians. Saviors.
They were fighting for a cause far bigger than themselves: to deliver freedom to those who otherwise might never, never have known it again.
As we remember the thirteen fallen heroes, we likewise remember every American who served in Afghanistan – including the 2,400 killed, the over 20,000 wounded, and the hundreds of thousands more who wore the uniform.
Tomorrow we honor the anniversary of September 11th, a day when we rededicate ourselves to that sacred promise: never forget.
Well, that is what this morning’s ceremony is all about: we will never forget the sacrifice of the fallen thirteen service members.
It now falls on us – to all of us gathered here under the dome of Lady Liberty – to ensure the sacrifices of all our service members were not in vain. We must care for them and their families and defend the values of freedom and democracy they so nobly fought for.
May God bless all of you. God bless our troops, fallen and fighting. And God bless the United States of America.
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