[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       TRIBUTE TO DR. DENNIS BERGE

                                 ______


                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 28, 1995
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I rise today to honor a 
friend and fellow educator from San Diego State University who passed 
away this month--Dr. Dennis Berge.
  Dr. Berge dedicated his life to our community and our country. He 
taught at Crawford and Hoover High Schools in San Diego and, in 1963, 
joined the faculty at San Diego State, where he taught until his 
retirement in 1992.
  I was privileged to be a History Department colleague of Dr. Berge's 
for more than two decades. Dr. Berge authored many articles and reviews 
on western U.S. history and the city of San Diego, but was best known 
as an expert on the history of the Mexican-American War, U.S. 
continental expansionism and the American West. He was an active member 
of the Western Historical Society and the Organization of American 
Historians. As a professor, he was known to his students for his 
thoughtful lectures, rigorous intellectual standards, and careful 
attention to the academic needs of his students.
  Dr. Berge served in the Army during the Korean war and commanded an 
armored platoon. He was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement 
in action near Soubyok, Korea, on July 11, 1953.
  After being discharged from the Army as a first lieutenant in 
November 1953, he resumed his studies at San Diego State University, 
where he received his Bachelor and Master of Arts Degrees in History. 
He subsequently received a Ph.D. in History at the University of 
California, Berkeley.
  As a faculty member at San Diego State University, he assumed 
numerous administrative duties such as Chair of the Department of 
History for 6 years and member of the Faculty Senate.
  My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Priscilla Ann, and his 
family.


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