“This year, we observe Memorial Day at a moment in our history characterized by loss, struggle, and sacrifice. While we remember, as we do each year, the fallen military heroes who served our nation in uniform, we also pause to reflect on the enormous loss of life that has occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 100,000 American lives taken. Many of its victims have been veterans of the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, taken in their later years by an enemy no less deadly or dangerous than those they faced in their youth. Some hospitals and intensive care units in our hardest-hit areas have been likened to the field hospitals of Iraq and Afghanistan. We have also heard stories about the courage of our frontline health care workers, risking their own safety and lives to treat the sick, some giving their lives.

“The battle in which we are now engaged is different from what Americans have known of battles past. It will not be won with the strength of arms but with the gentleness of healing hands. It will not be fought along dark roads or in crowded trenches but in the brightly lit corridors of hospitals and in warehouses where masked workers stand six feet apart, packaging essential supplies. This global war is different, but it will require the same unity of purpose, the same courage, and the same perseverance as past generations of Americans have had to muster and have so honorably displayed.

“So let us make this year’s Memorial Day not only an observance of military courage and sacrifice but of all American courage and sacrifice. Let us honor and remember our uniformed heroes who gave their all – and let us also mourn the Americans we have lost this year from all walks of life. The bravery of those who fell in battle defending our freedom and ideals have always been our guiding light through times of national challenge. We look to them once more, draw inspiration to confront the challenge of this moment, and thank them for the example of courage they set for us and which we now strive to emulate.”

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For more information about House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, visit his Leader member page.