Hobbs, NM (May 29, 2017) Congressman Steve Pearce today released a statement in honor of Memorial Day, and in memory of the brave men and women who never returned home from war.

Watch Rep. Pearce's Memorial Day Address here, or by clicking on the image below.

“Hello, I'm congressman Steve Pearce. I graduated from high school in 1965 from the small town of Hobbs, New Mexico. Of course, we were aware when we graduated that there was a conflict going on in Vietnam, the Vietnam War. None of us was quite sure what that meant - We didn't' know what it meant internationally, we did not know the significance for the nation, but we especially didn't know what it meant for us. We were to find out, us in the class of 1965, of the young men who did not come home from Hobbs - there were 9 of them - 5 were from the class of 1965. Kids I knew well, kids I hung around on the playground with.

So two years ago at my 50th reunion - that graduating class from high school - I made the comment that someone should do more at the 50-year reunion than just go to the cemetery. I didn't really have a clear idea of what that something would be, but over the next year I planned for a trip that would be my honoring - my consecration - my dedication to the memory of those who did not come home from Hobbs and from all small towns across America.

I flew my single engine airplane around the world, by myself, in one extended trip - 22 stops, 15 countries, 185 flight hours, and 15 days. That's about 12 hours a day sitting in the cockpit on average, some days it was as many as 20. That small four-place airplane; I had taken he two rear seats out, we put two 55 gallon drums behind me, filled them full of high octane fuel, and just chartered my way around the world. It was one of the most intense and the most difficult things I've done, but for me it was not nearly significant of the losses of those lives. It was my way of saying that I remember and I appreciate.

On those long lonely nights flying across the Pacific then up across Jakarta, Indonesia, into Thailand, across those air bases where we staged our missions out of - when we flew the combat missions in Vietnam from Thailand - I began to really understand the depth of loneliness, of the families who left loved ones there, who never got to see them grow to their full potential. In the rigors of exhaustion, I began to honor down to the deepest part of my being, those who gave everything - and that's what Memorial Day is all about, just remembering of those who died in conflict, not the ones who lived, but those who died.

Let us on this Memorial Day set apart time that we would remember the names on the wall, we would remember those who just were our average kids working on the block, playing with us on the sports teams, maybe they just went to school, but let's remember those lives that were cut short in the line of duty. You and I - we can consecrate that memory. That's my commitment for this Memorial Day, I hope that it's yours. God bless you. Thank you very much”