{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=54F9303C-F0F1-4957-BAB3-CA5A1EE15225", "Thune Honors South Dakota Veterans", "2023-11-08", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today honored the dedicated men and women who serve or have served in the United States military. Thune spoke about his experiences meeting with South Dakota veterans on Honor Flights \u2013 a nonprofit organization that brings veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials created in their honor.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, engraved on a wall at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., are these words: \u2018Freedom is not free.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Freedom is not free.\u2019\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a stark reminder that our freedom has come at a cost.\n\n\u201cThat it has been bought and paid for in blood.\n\n\u201cIn dark days and terrifying nights of battle.\n\n\u201cIn fear and loneliness.\n\n\u201cIn Christmases and holidays and birthdays spent far from home.\n\n\u201cIn visible wounds, and in invisible ones.\n\n\u201cAnd on Veterans Day above all, we remember this.\n\n\u201cWe remember that we live in peace and freedom because men and women have answered our country\u2019s call.\n\n\u201cHave stepped up and said, \u2018I will serve.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd have paid a price for that service.\n\n\u201cMr. President, one of my greatest honors as a U.S. senator is having the opportunity to interact with military veterans.\n\n\u201cAnd in addition to meeting veterans around South Dakota, I\u2019ve had the immense privilege of visiting with veterans who come to D.C. on Honor Flights.\n\n\u201cFor anyone not familiar with the organization, Honor Flight is a nonprofit that exists to bring military veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials created in their honor.\n\n\u201cAt its inception it focused on bringing World War II veterans to D.C., but now, with members of the Greatest Generation few and far between, Honor Flights have been filling up with veterans of Korea and Vietnam, as well as critically ill veterans from all eras.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to participate in three Honor Flight visits so far this year organized by Midwest Honor Flight, our local Honor Flight hub in South Dakota.\n\n\u201cAnd the chance to interact with these heroes who have sacrificed to defend and preserve American freedoms is not something I take for granted.\n\n\u201cSeeing the look in their eyes as they visit the memorials \u2013 knowing that for some it will be the last opportunity they have to visit \u2013 is a profound privilege and a reminder of all these men and women have given for our country.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s also deeply moving to hear from the family members who accompany these veterans, a number of whom have told me how cathartic these visits have been for their loved ones \u2013 sometimes marking the first time they\u2019ve really talked about their wartime experience.\n\n\u201cMr. President, on multiple occasions when I\u2019ve been down at the memorials visiting with Honor Flight veterans, I\u2019ve seen students with school groups come up to the veterans to thank them.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing thing to witness.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s made me reflect on just how important it is that children have these opportunities to see and thank our veterans \u2013 and to understand what they\u2019ve given us.\n\n\u201cRonald Reagan once said, \u2018Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.\u2019\n\n\u201cFreedom is indeed a fragile thing, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s easy to take it for granted when you have it.\n\n\u201cBut it is not a guarantee, and it must indeed be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.\n\n\u201cAnd seeing those schoolchildren interact with the veterans who have helped secure our freedom reminded me of the importance of handing down an understanding of that freedom to our children.\n\n\u201cOf teaching them just what our military men and women have fought and died for.\n\n\u201cAnd of reminding them that it will be their responsibility to preserve it.\n\n\u201cSeeing those schoolchildren and veterans interact, Mr. President, also reminded me that we should hold up our veterans to our young people not just as examples to revere, but as examples to imitate.\n\n\u201cWe should make sure that young people know that serving their country in the U.S. military is one of the noblest paths they could take.\n\n\u201cAnd that while the military life is a life of sacrifice, it is also a life of meaning and purpose.\n\n\u201cOne that offers pride, and brotherhood, and the lasting knowledge that your labor has made a difference.\n\n\u201cMr. President, on Veterans Day and every day, I am grateful to those who have answered our nation\u2019s call and taken up arms in defense of liberty.\n\n\u201cMay God bless all the men and women who serve or have served in the United States military.\n\n\u201cAnd may He help us to live lives worthy of their sacrifice.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=54F9303C-F0F1-4957-BAB3-CA5A1EE15225"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7799819577485323, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}