[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 26 (Thursday, March 10, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
      COMMENDING GEORGE BYER FOR HIS UNTIRING WORK FOR WORLD PEACE

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                     HON. ALFRED A. (AL) McCANDLESS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 1994

  Mr. McCANDLESS. Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents, George H. Byer 
of Hemet, CA, has made a name for himself as a promoter of world peace 
through friendship, and as a founder of a worldwide Friendship Corps 
for Children.
  He was born 80 years ago in a sod farm house on the prairie in South 
Dakota. He remembers walking miles across the prairie to a one-room 
school house. He was an only child, with few neighbors or friends, who 
now puts great value on friendship.
  Coming out of World War II with a disability, George Byer went to 
Alaska--which was then a territory of the United States--on the advice 
of a doctor, who told him to find some work to do that would keep him 
outdoors. He worked as a construction laborer and later as a 
longshoreman. As his health improved, so did his sense of purpose. Byer 
was appointed to civic committees, and he received a Man of the Hour 
award for his efforts to have the city of Anchorage recognized as the 
first All-American City outside the continental United States.
  In 1959, Byer was elected mayor of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. 
During his term as mayor, Byer began actively working for international 
peace, cooperation, and friendship. He broadcast a Christmas peace 
greeting on shortwave radio, which was translated into 35 languages and 
sent around the world.
  Moving to California, Mr. Byer continues his message of friendship 
from his home in Hemet. Mr. Byer founded the worldwide Friendship Corps 
for Children in 1990. His logo--a picture of the globe surrounded by 
the words ``Anywhere a Friend--Everywhere, Earth''--was flown on the 
space shuttle Columbia on its historic flight from April 26 to May 6, 
1993.
  Mr. Speaker, I salute George Byer for his untiring efforts to further 
the cause of peace.

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