[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 77 (Friday, June 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  COMMEMORATION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY AND OTHER EVENTS OF 
                              WORLD WAR II

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Byrne). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of February 11, 1994, and June 10, 1994, the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Dornan] is recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. DORNAN. Madam Speaker, this is one of those periods in history 
when all week long we should be celebrating the 50th anniversary of 
stunning events that took place in World War II. We made a proper 
memorial out of D-day. It was almost too celebratory. Maybe the real 
celebration should be on Victory in Europe Day, which was on Harry 
Truman's birthday. The 50th anniversary of that comes up next year, on 
May 8. We should also celebrate the cessation of hostilities against 
Japan in the Pacific theater, which was August 15 or the signing of the 
surrender on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on 
September 2, 1945. Those can be celebratory days. D-day should have 
been more a day of memorial with a more somber tone the way the 
veterans were observing it over there. In other words, absent sad 
little silly moments like White House staff on the U.S.S. George 
Washington purloining 16 bathrobes and about 60 towels with the scotch 
crest of the U.S.S. George Washington on them. We must remember that 
Normandy was an 80-day battle.
  Every day this week there was fierce resistance by the Germans on the 
whole British front around the city that was eventually completely 
destroyed, the city of Caen. On the American side beyond Omaha and Utah 
Beaches, Bob Michel, our minority leader was in combat for his 7th day. 
He arrived on Utah Beach D-day plus 4 days, so 7 days later, this is 
his first week of combat. Bob Michel, with his Browning automatic 
rifle, was a heavy rifle member of his squad. He made it through to the 
western coast of the Cotentin Peninsula, helping to cut off German 
divisions north and all the way to Cherbourg, which was the first port 
the Allies took later in the month, on June 29. German divisions asked 
all the way up to Adolf Hitler for permission to break out and to kill 
Bob Michel in the process. Hitler denied them the right to break out. 
Hitler said, in effect, ``No, die in place.''
  Now, today, on June 17, Adolf Hitler came all the way to the famous 
World War I battlefield of Saussaint a name that my dad had me memorize 
as a young child. Actually, I was to memorize Saussaint, Apre, Desomme, 
all the battlefields leading up to the American intervention in World 
War I in 1918. Then the names Chateau Thierry, Argonne Mues, Belleau 
Wood. Those names became more famous. The World War I devastated area 
looked like the surface of the Moon. There was incredible loss of life.
  Hitler came to Soussaint and met with von Runstedt, the last of the 
old Prussian noble officers who knew nothing about involving, let alone 
murdering, civilians by the thousands. Hitler met with von Runstedt and 
Rommel himself, the Desert Fox, who was the commander of the Southern 
German Army Group with full responsibility for the Normandy area. They 
asked Hitler for certain tactical permissions.
  Hitler went into a rage. This word jumped at me off the pages of 
several history books I was reading, because in Bob Woodward's book, he 
talks about our current Commander in Chief indulging in purple rages 
where the young George Stephenapolous is treated more like a battered 
wife than a Communications Chief. So I do not like to hear about people 
going into rages on their staff. For all of my tough image, crafted 
carefully by the L.A. Times, I defy someone to find a staffer that in 
almost two decades has ever seen me ever speak harshly to a staffer, 
let alone go into a purple rage.
  But here is Hitler in a purple rage, calling the entire two German 
Army groups in the whole area of Normandy and above La Havre cowardly. 
Suddenly he is the Austrian, damning his own German soldiers, who were 
out fighting the British, the Canadians and the United States forces. 
In any unit where it was man to man, the Germans would always prevail. 
All of the great biographers, the late Cornelius Ryan, the current 
master of historical craft on D-day, agree with that assessment. By the 
way, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Ryan's wife and chatting 
with him in Great Britain in Grosvenor Square at the ceremony we had 
honoring Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower's great son General John 
Eisenhower was in attendance. I also spoke with historian Stephen 
Ambrose, and in his great book, ``D-Day: The Battle for Normandy,'' he 
points out that in unit to unit size where the numbers were equal, the 
Germans would always prevail. And well they should since they had more 
combat general officers, combat-trained commanders at every level right 
down to the infamous commander of a Tiger tank unit, Michael Whitman. 
Isn't that an American-sounding name, Michael Whitman. He killed in his 
career 134 tanks, 130-some odd artillery pieces, 138 fighting vehicles, 
and countless other vehicles destroyed. This tank commander was finally 
surrounded and killed by Canadians.
  Hitler was prevailing at every battle 50 years ago this week, Yet, 
Hitler is calling his forces fighting so fiercely cowardly. Purple 
rages do not do anybody any good.
  Madam Speaker, I want to discuss some other areas of the world and 
say something for all of the veterans out there, and I am surprised at 
how many follow the proceedings of this Chamber. I had Adm. John Duncan 
Bulkeley, Medal of Honor winner, come up to me in the Colleville-Sur-
Mer Cemetery. As I said last week, 172 acres of United States territory 
in perpetuity as a gift to us from France, and well the French should 
give us this soil since 9,386 Americans are buried there, including an 
American son of a President who died in World War I.
  Admiral Bulkeley and most of his family, as did veteran after 
veteran, told me they watch these special orders and thanked me for 
being one of only a handful of Members, sometimes one of one, if I do 
say so myself, who remembers this period and brings it to the House 
floor, brings it to the benefit of people who visit in our galleries or 
read the Congressional Record or listen electronically, I hope it is 
over 1 million tonight.
  Madam Speaker, I want to tell Americans about some history and some 
of the things, sort of a color commentary as though it were a sport 
event, that was missed by the three networks and CNN.
  When I saw Admiral Bulkeley in the reception tent area behind that 
beautiful memorial to American youth who liberated France for the 
second time in a quarter of a century, I shook his hand. He was in full 
uniform, although he retired in 1998. August 31, 1988, was the 
retirement of Admiral Bulkeley after 58 years of service, if one 
includes his Annapolis time.

                              {time}  1530

  He graduated in June, the class of 1934. Just 2 days from now is the 
60th anniversary of his graduation from Annapolis.
  There was a terrible rumor, Madam Speaker, going around the Pentagon, 
brought to me by three young Naval officers, that Admiral Bulkeley had 
been selected as a Medal of Honor winner to throw the wreath off the 
U.S.S. George Washington at dawn, beginning the D-day commemorative 
events. The President was supposed to be there, and then the President 
was to go to Pointe du Huc with the rangers, then to Utah Beach, where 
the congressional delegation led by Sonny Montgomery, our distinguished 
colleague and retired two star, was gathered. Sam Gibbons, hero 
paratrooper of the 101st Airborne was reliving his own wonderful 
moments with his men and the British and Canadians and the 82d Airborne 
veterans.
  Then the Presidential delegation would move up to Utah Beach, on the 
beach, and then up to Colleville Cemetery where they would be joined by 
the congressional delegation. But it was to start with Adm. John 
Bulkeley throwing a wreath into the English Channel.
  These young officers from the Pentagon came to me and said they had 
received word that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be taking that honor 
from Admiral Bulkeley and that she would be throwing the wreath into 
the English Channel.
  I was not there. We were on land. So I asked Admiral Bulkeley about 
it. I said tell me that Hillary did not take that wreath from you.
  He smiled a wry smile, still with all the respect uniformed people 
have in the great tradition of our country for Commanders in Chief and 
First Ladies, and he said, ``No, Congressman, I shared that honor with 
the President.'' And that night, on French television, I saw William 
Jefferson Clinton holding on to the wreath with Adm. John Duncan 
Bulkeley, Medal of Honor winner. A triple draft dodger and a Medal of 
Honor winner, both together, throwing the wreath into the English 
Channel.
  Now, if the name John Bulkeley doesn't strike a resonant cord in your 
knowledge of history, young or older Americans, be advised he won his 
Medal of Honor for saving Gen. Douglas MacArthur and taking him off the 
island of Corregidor.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Byrne). I remind the gentleman he 
should not refer to the President using pejorative terms.
  Mr. DORNAN. Using what?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pejorative terms.
  Mr. DORNAN. Madam Speaker, ``draft dodger'' is not a pejorative term. 
It is historical fact.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. It is out of order, sir.
  Mr. DORNAN. Madam Speaker, I appeal to the Chair or to the 
Parliamentarian. Someone who has dodged the draft is a draft dodger. It 
is a historical application of a title that is not pejorative, 
especially if someone was proud of it and bragged of it.
  I will not say it again, Madam Speaker. It is not a pejorative term. 
It is a fact. A historical fact. but, I will not say it again.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman may proceed in order.
  Mr. DORNAN. Now, let me tell you what Admiral Bulkeley did before he 
rescued General MacArthur from Corregidor and won the Medal of Honor 
and what he did afterward. First, I will tell you what he did 
afterward. He fought all through the South Pacific, on dozens of 
patrols, PT boat patrols. In the Air Force we would call these 
missions. He had dozens of combat missions.
  Remember that John F. Kennedy, young mid-20's lieutenant, through no 
fault of his own, although that is contested, but I would say through 
no fault of his own, in the darkness, dark running the Navy calls it, 
in the Slot, down the middle of the Solomon Islands, near Kolombangara 
Island, on his first mission, had his boat cut in half by a Japanese 
destroyer. Of the 13 men on his PT boat 109, two were killed. John F. 
Kennedy received the Navy Cross for rescuing one of his crew members, 
who was semiconscious, dragging him through the water to an island by 
his life preserver cord. That was a life saving mission, certainly 
worthy of a Navy commendation, but it had nothing to do with combat. It 
was not like going after the enemy or sinking a ship.
  That was President Kennedy's first mission. His back was hurt so 
badly, he only had two or three more patrols along the coast, firing at 
a unseen enemy, and then had to be sent home because of his back pains.
  Here was Admiral Bulkeley, also a lieutenant with hundreds of combat 
patrols. He was then chosen, to be the commander of all the PT boats in 
the Mediterranean for the Sicily invasion on July 10, 1943, and then 
for the naval invasions of Salerno, and then later Anzio, and then was 
picked to command 67 PT boats in the English Channel.
  This is why he was asked as a Medal of Honor winner to throw the 
wreath into the English Channel on the morning of the 50th anniversary 
of D-day. Sixty-seven PT boats under his command. And what was their 
job? To keep the German PT boats, they called them E boats, from doing 
what they did in the last few days of April, when they killed hundreds 
of American men on transports, sank several ships that were training 
for the invasion off the beaches of England. German torpedo boats got 
into our practicing for D-day and killed, some reports say 649. I have 
seen other reports that they killed almost 1,000, drowning hundreds of 
young Americans who had been training in England for 2 years. And this 
operation, Tiger it was called, Operation Tiger, training for Operation 
Overlord, it was kept secret not only for the entire war, but then 
seemed to be lost after the war. And only until recent times, five 
decades later, are we acknowledging what the German E boats did, 
killing hundreds of Americans.
  Someone asked Admiral Bulkeley at Colleville Cemetery, what was the 
principle duty of the PT boats under you, other than to keep the 
Germans from unfiltrating our landing craft and tearing up the invasion 
forces?
  He said his boats were to block the Germans from coming from the west 
coast of the Cotentin Peninsula, the Cherbourg Peninsula, from coming 
around the top to try and block us from going near Cherbourg.
  I asked the Admiral if the Germans tested him? And he gets this wry 
smile and says, ``Oh, yes, they did.''
  That is naval battle that I have asked the Library of Congress to 
research for me and that I do not have yet.
  Now, let us go back from the Normandy combat waters, the waters off 
Italy, off Sicily in 1943, let's go back to the dark days of December 
1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor, and months before all of the 
intervening combat patrols leading up to rescuing, by direct order, of 
Gen. Douglas MacArthur who wanted to be captured with his men or die 
with his men on Corregidor.
  Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a direct order, you will leave. He 
ordered him to leave by submarine. MacArthur somehow or other felt 
using our silent service was leaving in some sort of ignominious way.
  I would argue that with the great general. But he wanted to go out 
with flags flying. So he ran past Japanese cruisers, all the way from 
Corregidor to Mindanao, with a great Lieutenant Kelly in one PT boat, 
and soon to be Admiral but Lt. John Bulkeley in the PT boat that 
rescued MacArthur.
  By the way, there is a great movie, now colorized, that I recommend 
young people, and not so young people. It is called ``They Were 
Expendable,'' a classic John Ford film, where John Wayne plays 
Lieutenant. Kelly, and Robert Montgomery, the distinguished actor and 
friend of President Eisenhower, plays Admiral Bulkeley. ``They Were 
Expendable.'' And, believe me, everybody was expendable on the Bataan 
Peninsula and Corregidor, while we built up our forces to roll back the 
imperial warloads of Japan, the fascists of Italy, and the Nazis of 
Adolf Hitler.
  Now, here is a great book, a quick read, a small book, written by a 
fine author, William Brewer, called ``Devil Boats.'' It is about PT 
boats. Kennedy only gets a page in here because he lost his boat on the 
first mission.
  But here is ``Devil Boats, the PT War Against Japan.'' This doesn't 
cover Bulkeley in the Mediterranean or the English Channel. Listen to 
this from chapter 23, the opening, entitled, ``The wild man of the 
Philippines.''

                              {time}  1540

  If you have seen that film clip again maybe in 1996, of Clinton and 
Bulkeley holding the wreath to throw it in the English Channel, think 
of this description of Bulkeley and compare him to the man that we read 
about at Oxford in 1969 and 1970, demonstrating against his country in 
a foreign land.
  When Lt. John Bulkeley reported to his Corrigedor headquarters, still 
designated grandly as the 16th naval district on January 18, he was 
handed a tersely written order by Capt. Herbert Ray, Admiral Rockwell's 
chief of staff.
  ``Army reports four enemy ships in or lying off Port Beneca,'' that 
is a Bataan port that we had lost earlier, ``force may include one 
destroyer, one large transport. Send two boats, attack between dawn and 
dusk.''
  Returning to the U.S. base, this would be Bulkeley's base, at Sisiman 
Cove, Bulkeley began preparing for the night's mission. By now, his 
daring courage, seemingly unlimited supply of nervous energy, and his 
swashbuckling exploits had gained him a widely known nickname, ``Wild 
Man of the Philippines.'' And chapters 1 and 2 talk about these 
exploits with six PT Boats at first, then five and then four and then 
salvaging parts to keep a couple afloat.
  A striking physical appearance strengthened that label, wild man of 
the Philippines. He looked like a cross between a bloodthirsty 
buccaneer and a shipwrecked survivor just rescued from months spent 
marooned on a desolate island. His shirt and trousers were soiled, 
wrinkled, torn. As I discussed with the admiral, covered with oil. He 
wore a long black unruly beard, and his green eyes were bloodshot and 
red-rimmed from endless nights without any sleep while out patrolling 
the coast of Bataan.
  On each hit he carried a menacing pistol and he clenched a tommy gun 
in a manner that caused others to believe he was itching to locate a 
Japanese to use it on. Bulkeley indeed was a wild man.
  For that night's raid, Bulkeley selected PT-31. Keep in mind that 
Kennedy's 109 came off the assembly line thus numbered, and he has got 
31. And PT-34 was temporarily captained by an ensign, a second 
lieutenant, Ens. Ron Chandler, who would be pinch hitting for Lt. Bob 
Kelly who was hospitalized briefly in a Corrigedor tunnel with a 
serious infection. Again, Bob Kelly is the one that John Wayne played. 
And they were expendable. Kelly kept coming back and back, sick or not, 
to keep going into combat. You can imagine the PT boats that Bulkeley 
commanded, the 67 of them off Normandy for the D-day invasion were all 
numbered in the 700 and 800 series. That is how many we produced in 2 
years with our industrial muscle, which is really what won the war. All 
praise Rosie the Riveter.
  This story goes on to tell how they go up the coast, capturing 
Japanese barges. What they left out in that brief description was that 
he had the toes of his shoes cut off so he would not get jungle rot in 
his feet, no socks. His trouser were cut off at the knees like Bermuda 
shorts. The shirt had the sleeves ripped off. One officer confronted 
him and said, ``Lieutenant Bulkeley, are you and I in the same Navy?'' 
But he had just come back from killing personally a whole barge of 
Japanese soldiers, climbed up in the oil slick among the bodies of the 
dead Japanese naval marines and picked up a bunch of papers covered 
with oil and soaked in water, and brought them back. They were examined 
at the headquarters at Bataan, and they were top secret documents 
outlining a kind of reverse MacArthur Inchon landing from the Korean 
war. The Japanese were apparently going to make a big right hook around 
us on the west coast of Bataan, cut off all our forces and caused the 
collapse of Bataan even sooner than it happened. And we were able to 
thwart that Japanese right hook invasion plan, thanks to this 
incredible officer.
  Then he goes on to win the Medal of Honor, taking MacArthur and his 
family, Mrs. MacArthur, the children, off the island of Corrigedor. 
That was March 11. Bataan fell with its infamous death march, including 
the commander years later of the National Guard, the ROTC at the 
University of Arkansas, still alive and with us, Col. Eugene Holmes. He 
got into the controversy in February of 1992 with Clinton, candidate 
Clinton, and then in September wrote the letter that America still does 
not know about because it was ignored by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, the Wall 
Street Journal, everybody ignored the letter written by Colonel Holmes, 
one of the Bataan Death March survivors, a dozen or more men died in 
his arms in prison camp at Camp O'Donnell. He wrote the letter about 
why he did not think Clinton was qualified to be President of the 
United States. It was ignored by the media, September of 1992.

  That Bataan Death March was after the fall of Bataan on April 9, and 
then the fall of Corrigedor on May 6. But in-between my former friend, 
the great living legend that just died a few months back, Jimmy 
Doolittle, raided five major Japanese industrial cities on the 18th, 9 
days after Bataan fell, three weeks after Corrigedor. That year of 1942 
was an incredible year.
  Now, about today, 50 years ago. I love the focus on D-day because it 
stimulates historical interest in young people. But I resent, along 
with veterans, that D-day has so much romantic impact attached to it. 
Because it was the greatest invasion in the history of civilization and 
it can never be repeated, given the massive killing power of stand-off 
weapons today. It was an 80-day battle so there is something to 
commemorate for today.
  More Americans died this week than the week of the landings because 
the Germans were getting their act together. The 21st Panzer Division 
was on the attack.
  One of the Orange County newspapers--people sometimes say to me, 
where do you get this memory? Hey, it is in the paper every day in the 
Orange County Register. It is an AP service. you ought to write to your 
papers and ask them to put this little column in that says ``Today In 
History.''
  You will read that today is the anniversary of the Watergate break-
in, the anniversary of Bunker Hill, the anniversary of the Supreme 
Court ending school prayer. June 17 is one of those days that attracted 
a lot of history over the years.
  The article, the way they title it in the Orange County Register, is 
``Today In History.''
  I just grabbed a couple of them for this week because they feature 
World War II, 50 years ago today.
  I misplaced the 11th, 12th, and 13th, but I pretty well know what 
happened on those days.
  Listen to this. Two days ago, 50 years ago, two U.S. Marine 
divisions, it does not say what they are but I know it was the 2nd and 
the 4th, landed on Saipan. Saipan was to be a B-29 base to bring the 
imperial warlords of Japan to their knees. Before that Tojo had been 
fired, but he was replaced by, known only to deep historians, other 
killer warlords. But we landed on Saipan.
  When we were through taking Saipan, more people had died on that 
Japanese island than had died among the less than 2500 remarkable low 
KIA of Americans and Brits and Canadians and French commandos on the 
beaches of Normandy by midnight at D-day. This carved out secure 
footholds on the highland of Saipan, one of the Mariana Islands, 
despite being put ashore further apart than they planned. Two days 
later, today, the two Marine divisions joined up. And then we put in a 
National Guard Division, the 27th. The Army joins the Marines, as they 
did in Guadalcanal and later on in the bloody Pelaleu. What was 
happening in New Guinea, where Admiral Bulkeley had spent so many 
months in combat missions with his PT boat commanders, the real 
swashbucklers who, before Kennedy, got there and for a year after he 
left, fought before the island hopping started all along the North 
Coast of New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands. It was an unbelievable 
campaign against Japanese naval forces trying to supply all of their 
enclaves across the north coast of New Guinea, totally unknown to 
American adults, let alone to American young people.
  On Baik Island, bloody Baik like bloody Boona on the northern coast 
of New Guinea, the American soldiers repelled a ferocious Japanese 
attack. There is that word again. Ferocious German attacks against Bob 
Michel's 9th Division. Ferocious attack on the north coast of New 
Guinea repelled. And today the Americans took, 2 days later, the high 
ground above all the western caves just like the caves on Saipan, the 
caves on Iwo Jima. They found caves in New Guinea to dig themselves in.

                              {time}  1550

  That was not discussed on the college campuses of America.
  I can remember as a ten-year-old kid that B-29 bomber in a big fold-
out from Life magazine. It looked like something from outer space, this 
most gigantic bomber in the history of the world. Two days ago, 50 
years ago, B-29 bombers flew their first mission in 1944, out of secret 
bases in China, what FDR would have called Shangri Las. Today, the 
Germans continued their buzz bomb offensive.
  The V-1, V for vengeance which today we would call a cruise missile, 
flew its first mission the day after Normandy. Hitler did not even use 
them on the Normandy coast. He was after hitting school children and 
women and old people's homes and churches in England.
  He launched it on June 7. On June 15, 8 days later, 144 V-1 vengeance 
weapons were launched, and today, 50 years ago, one hit outside a 
school, killing six across the English channel. So all this week and 
the end of last week was big V-1, vengeance weapon week.
  By the way, Hitler ranted at Von Runsted and Rommel, calling their 
men cowards. He also brought up ``I'm going to win this war with the 
vengeance weapons,'' because his scientists were lying to him about how 
soon they could get the V-2, the ballistic missile, on line, to send 
against Great Britain. The V-2 had no precision, it just hit whatever 
was under it when it came down. And in the case of a buzz bomb, the V-1 
cruise missile, when the engine stops, a pulse jet, whenever the fuel 
runs out, down it goes, hitting any helpless women and children 
underneath.
  Madam Speaker, that was the 15th. Here is the 16th, yesterday. 
American paratroopers fought their way across the Douve River and 
pushed into San Sauveur-le-Vicomte. I guess that means St. Savior. 
British forces captured Spoleto in Italy. That is coming up the eastern 
coast of the Adriatic across from Yugoslavia. The British 10th Corps 
was replaced today by the Polish 2nd Corps, free Polish, fighting with 
us in Italy, while the Russians are letting them die later on in the 
year as they wait outside of Warsaw to have all the Warsaw resistance 
fighters slaughtered.
  We well remember in this Chamber, and I participate, the slaughter of 
European Jewry by Adolph Hitler. But keep in mind, Hitler killed as 
many Polish Christians as he did of Europe's Jews, of which 2 million 
or 3 million were Polish--decent, loyal Polish Jewish citizens.
  In the Pacific, U.S. commanders delayed a landing on Guam until they 
dealt with approaching Japanese warships. Guess who was there in the 
Marianas to hit the Japanese forces? Former President George Bush, who, 
only 20 years of age, was flying his Grumman Avenger off the U.S.S. San 
Jacinto. By the way, that is the name of the Aegis cruiser that was in 
the English Channel last week when Clinton's staff arranged those 
little rocks on the beach. They lined them up with the U.S.S. San 
Jacinto, named after George Bush's carrier, so Clinton could build them 
into a little cross. Rush Limbaugh caught him looking up to see if the 
camera was checking him out, all of that posturing, and there is the 
San Jacinto off the coast. Unbelievable.
  Marines yesterday linked their beachheads on Saipan, the Guard 
division came in today. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Chinese troops are 
doing well in Kamaing, Burma. Meanwhile, the Japanese forces, in the 
last successful offenses in the Pacific, attack Changsha, China.
  Now today, Madam Speaker, the 17th; continuing action on Saipan, 
continuing action at Biak, continuing action by all of the Allied 
forces in Burma. And today, with Bob Michel's 9th Division in the lead, 
we cut off the German forces on the Cherbourg Peninsula.
  Madam Speaker, the other day I brought this little Bible out on the 
floor because this was given to me in the cemetery at Colleville, a 
tiny little red leatherette Bible that is a replica of a 1941 edition. 
I want this to be in the middle of my special order today.
  On the cover in gold it says ``New Testament.'' That would be 
politically incorrect today. This was printed with our tax dollars for 
the 50th anniversary of D-day. It says ``Commemorative Edition, 
Normandy Invasion, 50th Anniversary.''
  You open it up, the first page says, ``From the 1941 edition.'' On 
page 3 it says, ``This commemorative New Testament is a joint 
production of the Pocket Testament League and the American Bible 
Society.'' Here I was, reading this in Normandy at the cemetery, ``the 
White House, Washington, DC,'' over Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 
signature, 10\1/2\ months before Pearl Harbor, 1941, January 25th.
  Franklin Roosevelt writes to the Armed Forces, to everybody:

       As Commander in Chief, I take pleasure in commending the 
     reading of the Bible to all who serve in the Armed Forces of 
     the United States. Throughout the centuries, men of many 
     faiths and diverse origins have found in this sacred book 
     words of wisdom, counsel, and inspiration. The Bible is a 
     fountain of strength, and now as always, an aid in attaining 
     the highest aspirations of the human soul.

  If Roosevelt were writing this letter today, or any of us, we would 
not use the generic ``man,'' we would say ``men and women of many 
faiths.'' We would include the Old Testament, to be properly sensitive 
to our Jewish brothers and sisters. Could we even do it at all if this 
were not a commemorative edition? Probably not. I think somebody went 
out on a limb in the D-day Commemorative Commission to do that.
  Madam Speaker, I was rushed in a short special order the other night 
about breaking away from the congressional delegation by myself, on D-
day, after all the formal celebrations were over. Clinton had our buses 
blocked. He and Mrs. Clinton were shaking hands, working the crowd with 
all the GIs there, giving all the networks the opportunity to say the 
GIs fawned over him.
  No, any young man wants to write home to his folks that he shook the 
hand of the Commander in Chief. It is totally different than what the 
veterans were telling me, and the people on active duty, when they 
recognized me and got me off to the side. They thought some of the 
ceremonies were highly excessive and focused more on image-building 
than it was on the veterans that were there. That will be argued for a 
long time, I guess.
  However, I went out into the cemetery to try and find the graves of 
the 33 sets of brothers. Thank God, there were no Sullivan brothers, 
but 33 sets of brothers in the cemetery. I only found one set.
  I'm going back with some of my grown children some day with a map to 
find all 33, and the colonel father and lieutenant son who both died in 
the European campaign and are buried in the Colleville cemetery. But I 
did find the principal graves that I was looking for, those of the sons 
of a President whose fascinating face was the last to be put up on 
Mount Rushmore, Teddy Roosevelt. He was elected at age 45, the second 
youngest man ever elected, but sworn in the first time because of 
McKinley's assassination when he was a year younger than Kennedy, 3 
years younger than Clinton.
  Teddy Roosevelt came to the White House in his forties with quite a 
family: a grown daughter from his first marriage who lived a long life 
here in Washington, DC, always outspoken, who died in 1980. I actually 
had a chance to shake her hand at a function when I came here as a 
freshman Congressman in 1977. Also there were one of his four sons and 
his daughter from his second wife. His first wife died virtually during 
their honeymoon period. His second daughter lived a good long life, she 
died in 1977, 3 years before her older half sister, and one of his 
sons, Archie, who holds two Silver Crosses from combat in New Guinea, 
in World War II. He lived to the ripe old age of 86. Alice Roosevelt 
lived until 96, and Ethel lived until 86, and Archie to 85 and a half.

                              {time}  1600

  But the two Roosevelt brothers whose graves I visited at Colleville 
are a fascinating story that should be taught in the schools of our 
Nation all during the last 11 months of commemorating the war in 
Europe. And we have got a bloody battle ahead of us, the 50th 
anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Bastogne where 
German SS troops executed 109 Americans, where 10 or more miraculously 
played dead and crawled off into the woods, most of them wounded, to 
give testimony so that we could hang by the neck the SS officers that 
we caught. Most of them escaped. There will be plenty of ceremonies in 
the cold month in December, and I hope to be there whether or not I 
survive the November 8 election.
  But I said on this House floor what Teddy Roosevelt said. He had been 
out of the White House then, in 1918, for 10 years, still a young man, 
59, 2 years younger than I am. He died within a year. The death of this 
son broke his heart, his youngest son, the brother of the sixth, 
Quentin, who died at age 20. And I learned at his grave the day of his 
death was remarkable. He died on Bastille Day, the most famous day in 
French history, July 14, the day that the three lonely prisoners in the 
Bastille were released beginning the French Revolution, which 
unfortunately turned into the French reign of terror and the atheist 
slaughter of clergymen and women, and killed more priests than they did 
cut off the heads of royalty. But Quentin Roosevelt died in his fighter 
plane, in the sister squadron to the 94th aerosquadron which we 
discussed today during a commemorative for the incredible writer, 
adventurer and son of Iowa, James Norman Hall, the co-writer of Mutiny 
on the Bounty and Pitcairn Island, who flew with Rickenbacker in the 
95th, and this is the sister squadron of the 94th. Twenty-four-old 
Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of the former President, dies on 
Bastille Day, 1918, 20 years of age, shot down in aerial combat. When 
six-star General of the Army, John Joseph ``Blackjack'' Pershing, my 
father's supercommander, found out about it, he himself got in contact 
with Roosevelt and told him that his son, Quentin, had given his life 
for his country and for the liberation of northern France. Roosevelt, 
according to three-star general, great historian, and scholar Vernon 
Dick Walters, former Ambassador to Germany under President Reagan, 
looked down when he heard of Quentin's death and said, ``When you've 
raised your sons to be eagles, you cannot expect them to act like 
doves.''

  He had four other sons. Let us see how his other sons did in the 
service of their country.
  The oldest son, Teddy, who served in World War I, received the Medal 
of Honor for his actions on Utah Beach on D-day and died of a heart 
attack in the chow line with his men, still in the Battle of Normandy 
raging 36 days after D-day. Here is Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., 10 years 
older than Quentin, who died 26 years before. The oldest brother died 
on July 12, 2 days short of his kid brother, 26 years later, trying to 
liberate the very same country. It is just a half a day's drive to the 
trenches where Quentin died is the area in Normandy where Teddy 
Roosevelt died. Here is part of Teddy Roosevelt's Medal of Honor award.
  Brigadier General Roosevelt asked twice verbally, that he be allowed 
to accompany the leading assault craft in the Normandy invasion. It was 
denied. Then Brigadier General Roosevelt's written request for the 
mission was approved. He landed with the first wave of forces 
assaulting the enemy-held beaches. He repeatedly led groups off the 
beach, over the sea wall, and established them inland. His valor, 
courage, and presence in the very front of the attack, and his complete 
unconcern at being under heavy fire, 56 years of age, Madam Speaker, 
inspired his troops to the height of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. 
Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brigadier 
General Roosevelt moved from locality to locality, rallying the men 
around him.
  It is not here, but he is the one who said with his officers and his 
staff, ``Let the war begin here,'' meaning the war for the liberation 
of Europe from Nazi tyranny. He personally led them against the enemy. 
Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership the 
assault troops reduced the beach strong points and rapidly moved inland 
with minimum casualties. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. 
contributed substantially to the successful establishment of the 
beachhead in France.
  ``When you raise your sons to be eagles, you cannot expect them to 
act like doves.''
  Next brother, Kermit, born 2 years and 1 month after Teddy, Jr. The 
three were born at Oyster Bay. The two youngest by his second wife, the 
two youngest were born here in Washington, DC. That is where Quentin 
was born. Kermit died on active duty in the combat area of Alaska, the 
forgotten war, June 4, 1943, a year and 2 days before his older brother 
received the Medal of Honor. Kermit, the second of the Roosevelt four 
sons to die, dies in uniform in a combat theater in Alaska. I do not 
know the circumstances.
  The next one was Ethel. I told you she lived to be 86 and died in 
Oyster Bay where she was born.
  Next son, No. 3 of the boys, Archibald Bullock Roosevelt, born April 
9, Bataan Day, 1894, and served in World War I. He was 24 years of age 
when his 20-year-old brother died in his aircraft, shot down over the 
French trenches. And here is what Archie did. Terribly wounded in World 
War I, his arm and leg shattered. He nevertheless, in World War II, 
begged to be put back on active duty. His war wounds were so severe 
after World War I that they did not heal enough to get back on active 
duty in World War II until 10 years after World War I, the late 1920's. 
He goes back into combat in World War II and wins the Silver Star. As 
far as this Member of Congress is concerned, a Silver Star is a 
Distinguished Service Cross or a Medal of Honor without enough people 
witnessing it or without generally dying to get it. He wins a Silver 
Star, and then stays in combat in New Guinea, gets wounded, severely 
again, and wins a second star. Archie was quite a person around the 
town of his birth, Washington, DC, where he, I repeat, died at 85\1/2\, 
a great fighter against communism when it was not popular. And he died 
October 23, 1979 in Hobe Sound, FL, a real credit to the legend.
  So there are four sons, all of them raised to be eagles, Medal of 
Honor, Silver Stars, two of them, three of them dying in combat areas, 
one of them shot down, the other dying with his men, D-day plus 36.
  What a family. And today we read about people stealing bathrobes and 
towels off the U.S.S. George Washington.
  A little fact sheet was handed to me the first day we arrived in 
Europe for the memorials for 50 years ago, and I think young people in 
America should understand that World War II was not this romantic, 
lovely war where everybody charged off to be part of it, to fight 
Hitler and Tojo and Mussolini. Only 38.8 percent of the people in World 
War II volunteered, 38.8, less than 39 percent.
  What I used to tell the young kids in Vietnam when I went over there 
eight times as a correspondent, my heart going out to them because of 
the demonstrations in the streets and in London, I used to tell them, 
``You are all volunteers. You let yourself be drafted, didn't you? You 
volunteered. You held your head up. You are honorable. Couldn't you 
just have said you were a homosexual and beat it? Couldn't you have had 
some teeth pulled out, the way some people did, or couldn't you have 
shot yourself in the foot? Couldn't you have gone to Canada to hide 
out, or gone to Sweden.?''
  Come on. I remember being with Marines around the fire in DaNang that 
had just come back from combat in a small village. This is May 1966. 
And I said, ``You're all volunteers.'' And they said, ``We're Marines. 
Anyway, we are all volunteers here.''

                              {time}  1610

  Later on we drafted Marines. A lot of Marines did not like that. When 
you tell the Army guys you are all volunteers, one of them, I remember 
one day, looked up and said, you know, ``This reporter is right. We are 
volunteers. We don't have to be here.'' And they fought just as 
honorably to keep the soil of South Vietnam free as did the young men 
just a year or two older than I am fought to keep the soil of Korea 
free, as did my colleague, Charlie Rangel, who is trying to free his 
country of the curse of narcotics with all the vigor that he fought as 
an infantryman in Korea.
  I would walk up to people. I would tell this to my fellow colleagues 
with me, most of them World War II veterans, and they agreed. But I 
said to a couple of younger guys who were very promilitary, but did not 
serve, ``Explain to me, if you will, why Vietnam is different from 
South Korea or from France that the Roosevelt boys both died 26 years 
apart trying to liberate.'' The French would not let us overfly France 
when we were trying to stop the terrorism of blowing up and murdering 
people including a U.S. lieutenant colonel in the streets of Paris, the 
Israeli Ambassador to Paris being shot down in the street like dogs, 
the LaBelle disco blown up April 5, 1986 in West Germany killing a 
Turkish girl, two U.S. Army sergeants, and the only magazine that put 
them on the cover was People magazine. Nobody remembered the second man 
killed, Jimmy Goins, because he died 2 months and 2 days later in a 
German-United States hospital with both legs cut off and died because 
of the water in his lungs, with his Philippine-American wife and his 
son at his bedside.
  To stop that terror, Ronald Reagan launched our F-111's out of Upper 
Heyford in England, one of our bases that has been there since the 
Second World War until the last few months when it shut down. The 
French would not let us overfly their territory, so the French do not 
always come through as perfect allies.
  But we think it is noble to stand there and praise the World War II 
generation while still keeping this cloud over the noble cause of 
trying to keep South Vietnam from its killing fields and people 
executed for knowing us or working with us, or 600,000 people drowned, 
raped, and torn apart by sharks in the South China Seas. People still 
try to say, as Clinton said to Peter Jennings' face during the D-day 
celebrations in one of his interviews, ``Vietnam was wrong.'' It was 
not any more wrong than being in France.
  The young veterans of that war, who are not so young now, will never 
have their dignity and honor restored until people begin to understand 
what President Reagan meant when he said, ``Vietnam was a noble 
cause,'' fought improperly and screwed up by politicians in this city, 
its people just as worthy of freedom as the southern half of the Korean 
Peninsula where we are ginning up to what it looks like is another 
bloodletting to stop the tyranny of Kim Il-song.
  Listen to these facts on World War II, and some of them I was not 
aware of: Of the almost 18 million men examined for induction, 35.8 
percent were rejected; 6,420,000 young American males were rejected as 
physically or mentally unfit. I will give you the exact figure: 
17,955,000, almost 18 million, and we rejected almost 6\1/2\ million, 
and there were plenty of draft-dodgers in World War II. I could name 
five actors just like that who dodged the draft while Tyrone Power and 
Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart went off and took 4 years out of their 
careers, or David Niven, an English citizen, who went over and took 6 
years out of his Sam Goldwyn contract to fight as a British officer in 
his forces, and I know all the guys that stepped up and took their 
parts, because my uncle was Jack Haley, the Tin Man in ``The Wizard of 
Oz.''
  I was living in Beverly Hills, and we all talked around the table 
about who was overseas, like Glenn Ford, where the movie director John 
Ford, who did, and they were overseas, and they were expendable, 
overseas making films for the Navy. George Stevens was going across 
Europe in combat danger, making a color film for the U.S. Army and the 
U.S. Air Force. Clark Gable flying combat missions.
  We still get all gaga that Edward R. Murrow went on one combat 
mission on a British Lancaster bomber. Yes, he took his life in his 
hands. That is pretty good. I did that 14 times.
  How about guys like Clark Gable who were going on mission after 
mission or Jimmy Stewart, who flew a full combat career as a young 
colonel with 35 missions in B-24 Liberators. No, there were plenty of 
draft-dodgers in World War II.
  The average duration of service was 33 months; 73 percent went 
overseas. That means that more than one out of four never went 
overseas. Some of them were in combat in the Caribbean against German 
U-boats. No, that is considered overseas, if you went to Trinidad and 
flew out of Trinidad. That is statewide service for more than one out 
of four. Average months overseas: 16.2. Marines in Vietnam: 13 months. 
Army: 12 months. Combat survivability: 8.6 were killed in action out of 
1,000. That is if you went into combat. Pretty good for U.S. forces. We 
treasured our men, unlike the Soviets where they probably had 50-
percent casualties, because they just squandered their lives en masse. 
We talk about Japanese banzai charges, mass human-wave death against 
our machine guns. The Russians were even worse than the Japanese in 
squandering life to achieve victory.
  Three died from other causes, accidents, being overseas in dangerous 
areas; 17.7 received nonmortal combat wounds.
  To you young Americans, listen to what they got paid to drive Hitler 
to suicide: Bob Michel got 71 dollars and change, 71 dollars and 33 
pennies. That is what he got as an enlisted man for fighting his 
way across Europe. Officers: Did anybody see that PBS special, ``A 
Fighter Pilot's Story'' the other night? More than two-thirds of his 
squadron were killed, some of them right in front of his face. One guy 
will his canopy shot up so he could not bail out. He turns right to 
that young, not so young now, fighter pilot, telling the story, looks 
over at the Thunderbolt wing to wing, and his young friend looks up at 
him and salutes, pow, right into the trees microseconds later. What did 
he get paid for doing that? He was paid $203.50. That is average pay. A 
second lieutenant would make a lot less than that flying Thunderbolts 
across Europe. No glory up in the clouds trying to shoot down Germans, 
in the weeds, day after day, until suddenly you look out, and suddenly 
you do not want to make any new friends. Quite a 2-hour documentary on 
PBS.

  When you look at what it cost in the treasure of our hard-working 
people back here, nobody except Germany comes even close, to build gas 
chambers and kill and start a war that kills 55 million people, and 
while the Japanese started it, they weighed in, the Italians in 
Ethiopia, but it cost Germany $212 billion, and it cost them 10 million 
lives, 3\1/2\ million men in their army.
  What would Germany be like today if they had not squandered the youth 
of their nation in two wars a quarter of a century apart?
  But the United States spent almost $300 billion. In today's dollars 
this would be trillions, trillions. The U.S.S.R. spent 93 compared to 
our 288 billion, and we were sending tons of lend-lease to them; France 
only half of Germany.
  By the way, France, 52 years ago today, 54 years ago today, June 17, 
sued for surrender. Hitler thought it was terrible that they did that. 
But he did not tell them that over the BBC. He knew why they had 
surrendered. Germans were in Paris 2 days ago, 54 years ago. They 
surrendered because when you drive around Normandy and look at the war 
memorials and these beautiful little Normandy towns, you say, ``Is that 
from the battle for Normandy in World War II?'' And then you look and 
you see a different style, a more ornate angel or figure of Christ on 
the statute, and then you realize that the World War II numbers are 4, 
5, 10, 12 at the most. The names by the dozens on these statutes are 
from World War I.
  In the British first Battle of the Somme, the casualties in the first 
day were 57,000, 30,000 killed in action. That is three times the 
Battle of Antietam up here in Maryland. The slaughter in World War I 
was so massive you wonder how could they replay this in Europe a 
quarter of a century later. A quarter of a century? The war ended 
November 1918, and if you take away Ethiopia in the middle 1930's, and 
Japan in 1935 attacking China, if you use the bombing of Warsaw 
September 1 of 1939, 21 years, short 2 months of 21 years, they are 
starting this killing all over again.
  So a second Roosevelt brother joins his kid brother, Quentin, who 
died at 20, and we had 33 sets of brothers and a father and son, a 
father who fought in World War I as a lieutenant, dies with his son on 
different battlefields, I believe, in World War II.
  Incredible, when you read the statistics of this great crusade.
  I had a Member from Mississippi, and I do not think he did it meanly, 
he referred to me as a peacetime fighter pilot the other day on the 
floor talking about D-day, and went over, and I said, ``Gene, where did 
you get that expression? Did you read my bio? It is in my bio.'' He 
said, ``No, I heard you say it on the floor once.'' I explained to him 
why I have to say peacetime fighter pilot. Because that is a category 
that I am proud of.
  Tony Coelho, who left this place in disgrace, thought by saying I was 
a fighter pilot it meant I was claiming I fought.

                              {time}  1620

  But, no, no, it meant like bomber pilot, cargo pilot, it meant 
fighter pilot. So now I have to put in my bio, because idiots do not 
know anything about the military, that I was a peacetime fighter pilot. 
But then I reminded my young friend from Mississippi that being a 
peacetime fighter pilot was pretty good in the 1950's because the 
Commander in Chief was worthy of the title. His name was Dwight David 
Eisenhower. He had worn 5 stars on his shoulder. He had run, as a 2-
star, the invasion of Operation Torch in North Africa, the invasion of 
Sicily in 1943, he planned the invasions into Italy and was given this 
incredible responsibility in his 50's. He was born in 1889.

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