[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO JOHN MOONEY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 4, 1997

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I pay tribute today to an outstanding 
individual who represents hundreds of thousands of Americans who 
participated in the battle that was the beginning of the end of Nazi 
Germany--the invasion of Normandy.
  Mr. Mooney, who served in the 2d Armored Cavalry Division, was part 
of the wave of brave Allied soldiers that stormed the beaches and 
cliffs overlooking the English Channel on June 6, 1944. Even after the 
Allies established a beachhead, it took more than 2 months of fierce 
fighting before the risk of the Germans reversing the invasion had 
ended.
  During the last 3 years, Mr. Mooney and thousands of his comrades 
have been honored by the Regional Council of Normandy with the Medaille 
de Jubile, a decoration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 
Battle of Normandy and the beginning of the liberation of Europe.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind our fellow members and all 
freedom loving people in America and the world of the debt of gratitude 
we owe Mr. Mooney and the heroic soldiers, sailors and airmen whose 
efforts at Normandy marked the beginning of the end of Nazi tyranny.

                          ____________________