[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 31, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S1799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    TRIBUTE TO LT. GEN. ROBERT B. JOHNNSTON, U.S. MARINE CORPS, ON 
RECEIVING THE MARINE CORPS RESERVE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION ``NON SIBI; SED 
                            PATRIAE'' AWARD

  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, on Saturday, February 4, at Camp Lejeune, NC 
the Marine Corps Reserve Officers Association will bestow upon Lt. Gen. 
Robert B. Johnston its highest award. The award is ``Non sibi, sed 
patriae, which is Latin for ``Not for self, but for country.''
  Lieutenant General Johnston, currently commander of U.S. Marine Corps 
Forces, Atlantic, headquartered at the base the marines call ``The Home 
of Expeditionary Forces in Readiness'' richly deserves this award. 
Nothing better characterizes this man than his selfless service to his 
country. Commissioned a second lieutenant in 1961, he ended up 30 years 
later as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Central Command during Operation 
Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
  Along the way, General Johnston completed two tours of duty in 
Vietnam, where he was decorated for valor in combat. He then went on to 
perform a host of other assignments with great distinction.
  Mr. President, it is most fitting that Robert Johnston was in the eye 
of the American military hurricane that swept the Iraqi Army from 
Kuwait. General Johnston's association with Desert Storm was no mere 
coincidence. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and we know the Scots 
are a fighting people. This is clearly true when they become U.S. 
citizens and marines. Moreover, General Johnston has more than a few 
items in common with Scotland's Robert Bruce, later King Robert the 
First, who gained Scotland's independence from the English in 1314 by 
handing them a defeat in battle that Sir Charles Oman, the great 
historian of the Middle Ages, called ``the most lamentable defeat which 
an English army ever suffered.'' In the Battle of Bannockburn, which 
was as cleverly planned as Desert Storm, Robert Bruce, lured an English 
army half again the size of his own into a well-disguised trap, and 
managed to destroy it, inflicting on it four times the number of 
casualties as his own army suffered.
  Robert Bruce devoted his life to creating a country; Robert Johnston 
has devoted his to defending one. Neither Robert is known for self-
promotion or loquaciousness, which may explain why both names are 
associated with country, not self.
  Mr. President, I commend the Marine Corps Reserve Officers 
Association for selecting Lieutenant General Johnston to receive this 
award, and I add my congratulations and thanks to Lieutenant General 
Johnston for his outstanding service to our Nation.


                          ____________________