[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4090-S4091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               JAMES I. WILLIAMSON, MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, it is sometimes argued these days 
that we Americans place too high a premium on the value of individual, 
yet our experience over more than 200 years as a Nation has taught us 
that it's almost impossible to overestimate the value of some 
individual citizens to our community and our country. James I. 
Williamson of Harrington, DE, who died on Monday of this week at the 
age of 66, was one of those invaluable individuals without whom the 
character and history of America would be very different.
  During his distinguished 21-year career in the U.S. Army, from which 
he retired in 1969 as a staff sergeant, James Williamson won many 
decorations, including the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and the Silver 
Star. In 1968, during the last of his three tours of duty in Vietnam, 
he won the rarely awarded Congressional Medal of Honor for 
extraordinary, individual valor in combat.
  Of the millions of men and women who have served in our military 
since the award was first conferred during the Civil War, Mr. 
President, fewer than 3,500 have received the Congressional Medal for 
voluntary action above and beyond the call of duty, at the risk of the 
recipient's own life--and the high standard of admission to that elite 
group of heroes is indicated by the fact that the majority of 
Congressional Medals have been awarded posthumously.
  Sergeant Williamson survived the action that earned him our highest 
military decoration, but it was his willingness to risk his own life 
that saved the lives of comrades in arms engaged in that action with 
him. Alone and armed with a machinegun, he rescued the crew of a 
mechanized weapons carrier that had taken a disabling direct hit. 
Remaining exposed to enemy fire, he attached a towing cable so the 
vehicle and its crew could be pulled to safety.

[[Page S4091]]

  Despite the controversy that surrounded our involvement in the 
Vietnamese war, Mr. President, it was a proud nation which presented 
Mr. Williamson with the Congressional Medal of Honor, because of his 
enormous personal courage, because of his willingness to risk 
sacrificing his own life in the service of others, and because neither 
our military nor our Nation can afford to allow such outstanding 
individual contributions to go unrecognized.
  James I. Williamson was not ``the one-in-a-million'' exception we 
sometimes refer to; he was the truly exceptional ``one-in-fewer-than-
3,500'' who displayed the American character at its best and whose 
actions made clear why our most precious decoration is dedicated to 
honor--his own and his country's. His family, his community of 
Harrington, and his State of Delaware will remember him with pride for 
his extraordinary individual achievement and with humility in the face 
of his unselfish bravery.

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