WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today released a video paying tribute to our nation’s fallen heroes ahead of Memorial Day, observed on Monday, May 28, 2018.

“So, on this Memorial Day, think hard and long about all we have to give thanks for,” said Isakson “Think about the assets and the benefits that we have – and say a prayer for those veterans that we have in America today – to give thanks to those who served and sacrificed on this Memorial Day. May God bless them, and may God bless our country.”                        

Also this week ahead of Memorial Day, Isakson led the Senate in the overwhelming passage of landmark legislation to strengthen veterans’ healthcare services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) while streamlining its community care programs to ensure efficient, timely and quality care for our nation’s veterans. The John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks (MISSION) Act, called the VA MISSION Act for short, was sent to the president on May 24, 2018.

Isakson’s complete remarks are below:

“Hello. I’m United States Senator Johnny Isakson.

“I’m also chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in the United States Senate, a veteran myself, and one proud to join with you today and celebrate this upcoming Memorial Day honoring all those who died and sacrificed, so you and I could enjoy the peace, liberty and prosperity that we do today.

“Memorial Day is a very special day to me. More special than anything else because in the experience I had five years ago in Margraten, in the Netherlands, when visiting the American Cemetery where most of the Americans who died in the Battle of the Bulge are buried, I passed by the grave of Roy C. Irwin, a Private from New Jersey, killed in action 28th day of December in 1944.

“I thought to myself, paused, and took a deep breath. That was the day I was born.

“In the Battle of the Bulge on the 28th day of December of 1944, Roy C. Irwin in New Jersey gave his life. On the same day in Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Ga., my mother gave me life.

“The last seventy-three and a half years I’ve enjoyed to live on this Earth have been a privilege and a pleasure, but they’ve all been courtesy of Roy C. Irwin and all those like him in World War II who volunteered and fought and died to sacrifice for the United States of America.

“So, on this Memorial Day, think hard and long about all we have to give thanks for. Think about the assets and the benefits that we have – and say a prayer for those veterans that we have in America today – to give thanks to those who served and sacrificed on this Memorial Day, offering a memorial to those who served the United States of America. May God bless them, and may God bless our country.”                    

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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 115th Congress. Isakson is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the armed services as well as more than 750,000 veterans.