NEWS ADVISORY
Committee on International Relations
U.S. House of Representatives
Henry J. Hyde, Chairman
CONTACT:  (202) 225-5021, August 16, 2006 

Hyde Comments on Visit to Guadalcanal
Commemorates WWII Battle on Sixty-First Anniversary of V-J Day
 

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-IL), Chairman of the House Committee on International Relations and a WWII veteran, released the following statement regarding his recent visit to Guadalcanal:

I and the Members of the Delegation are honored to be able to lay a wreath in memory of those who fought and those who died here in the first major land battle of the War in the Pacific. It is appropriate, on the sixty-first anniversary of V-J (Victory Over Japan) Day, to recall those who made such a valiant sacrifice for their country. In those dark and uncertain days of the war, this battle marked the end of the Japanese advance and the beginning of the march toward ultimate victory. By their sacrifice, those who fought here guaranteed the freedoms which we enjoy today. The memory of what they did here will live in the hearts of their countrymen forever.