[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10] [House] [Page 14309] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING THE SECTION 60 MOTHERS The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes. Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery is a very special place. It holds the graves of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Section 60 also is the place where a group of remarkable women come together on a regular basis. They are the Section 60 mothers, the mothers of the soldiers buried in that hallowed ground. The Section 60 mothers come to mourn their heroic children, and to honor their sacrifice. They also come to give each other support in their time of grief. They look to each other for comfort because the only person who can really understand a mother who has lost a child in war is another mother who has suffered the same loss. Recently, National Public Radio broadcast two stories about the Section 60 mothers. In those stories, the Section 60 mothers talked about their children. They also described how they found each other and created a circle of support to help each other, to help each other make it through another day. Their words are heartbreaking, yet also inspiring, because these mothers are American heroes, just like their children. I'd like to share some of their words with you today. One mother placed flowers, balloons, and cards on her son's tombstone because it was his birthday. She said, ``These are our babies. When they have a birthday, this is what you do for them, and this is what we still do for them.'' Another Section 60 mother, whose son died 2 years ago, said, ``This is my son, and I just cannot believe that he's gone. I don't want him to ever be forgotten. It's just in the last couple of months in fact that I have been able to say, `My son's death,' and even that sends a chill through me.'' Another mother described the impact of her son's death on her family. She said, ``I look at my surviving children, and it's such heartache for me because they're in so much pain, and I can't do anything about it except just love them. I can't take their pain away. It's excruciating.'' This mother's son was killed on May 8, 2005. It was Mother's Day. Another grieving mother said, ``Our job is to protect our kids, and we would do anything to do that. I feel like I should have just jumped across the ocean and known that he was in trouble. It's irrational, but it's a mom.'' A mother whose marine son was killed in Iraq in 2005 talked about how the mothers are supporting each other. She said, ``We talk and we cry about the heartache. Our friendship has just been so incredible and different than any other friendship that I have ever known because our sons are side by side in that same soil.'' Another mother whose son was killed in Iraq in 2005 said, ``When we go to Arlington, sometimes we are holding the crying mother. And sometimes we are the crying mother. You never cry alone at Arlington. It's a refuge for me. You cannot be strong all the time.'' Another mother described the first time she saw another mother in Section 60. She said, ``She was just crying and saying, `Our beautiful boys.' We just started walking toward each other and we were crying so hard.'' A cousin of one of the soldiers told this story about her fallen hero. ``He always wore a St. Christopher's medal around his neck. When he died, they couldn't find it. But on the day of the funeral, the colonel came up to my aunt and said that they had found the St. Christopher's medal. When his body was thrown back by the blast, the St. Christopher's and his dog tags were in the hole that the bomb was in.'' Finally, one of the new mothers asked another mother if the pain of losing a child in war ever goes away. This mother had to say, ``No.'' Madam Speaker, we owe the Section 60 mothers our deepest respect and gratitude. They remind us that the war isn't something that takes place thousands of miles away. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are happening to our mothers and families right here in our own communities in America every single day. So let us resolve to go to war only as a very last resort. Every possible alternative to war should always be completely exhausted before we send our great men and women into battle. That is the least we can do for them and the mothers they leave behind. ____________________