[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 4, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ROY DESMOND MOSER

  The Clerk called the bill (H.R. 2731) for the relief of Roy Desmond 
Moser.
  There being no objection, the Clerk read the bill as follows:

                               H.R. 2731

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. MODIFICATION OF EFFECTIVE DATE OF NATURALIZATION 
                   OF ROY DESMOND MOSER.

       Notwithstanding title III of the Immigration and 
     Nationality Act, any predecessor provisions to such title, or 
     any other provision of law relating to naturalization, for 
     purposes of determining the eligibility of Roy Desmond Moser 
     for relief under the Agreement Between the Government of the 
     United States and the Government of the Federal Republic of 
     Germany Concerning Final Benefits to Certain United States 
     Nationals Who Were Victims of National Socialist Measures of 
     Persecution, signed at Bonn on September 19, 1995, Roy 
     Desmond Moser is deemed to be a naturalized citizen of the 
     United States as of August 8, 1942.

  Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, the relief provided by this legislation is 
of exceptional urgency, and I want to express my appreciation to 
Chairman Hyde, Chairman Smith, Mr. Conyers, and Mr. Watt, for their 
cooperation and assistance in bringing this legislation forward on an 
expedited basis.
  These bills concern two men, now in their seventies, who have been 
American citizens for over 50 years. Each served in the Armed Forces of 
the United States during World War II, and each was captured by the 
Nazis and interned at the infamous concentration camp known as 
Buchenwald.
  The first man, Roy Desmond Moser, was held as a prisoner of war at 
Stalag 9B, one of the most brutal of the Nazi POW camps. From there, he 
and 350 of his American comrades were transported to Berga, a sub-camp 
of Buchenwald. There they were confined in unhealthy, degrading and 
inhumane conditions, subsisting on a starvation diet, subjected to 
forced labor, and brutalized by camp guards. After only 6 weeks at 
Berga, 24 had perished from starvation, overwork, disease and physical 
abuse. In early April 1945, the remaining prisoners were driven on a 
death march away from the advancing Allied front. Of the 280 American 
POW's who survived, most weighed less than 90 pounds when they were 
finally liberated.
  The second man, John Andre Chalot, was too young to enlist in the 
U.S. Army, so he went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air 
Force. He flew Spitfires with the RCAF based in England from 1940 to 
1943, and transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps, 358th Fighter 
Squadron, in 1943, receiving a commission as a second lieutenant. Early 
in 1944, Mr. Chalot was flying a P-51 mission over Germany when his 
plane was hit and he crash-landed in Holland. With the help of the 
Resistance, he managed to get to Paris, but was arrested and imprisoned 
there. In August 1944, he and his fellow prisoners, including 168 
Allied airmen, were crowded into boxcars and transported to Buchenwald, 
where they suffered extreme deprivations and were even subjected to 
Nazi medical experiments. Mr. Chalot and most of his fellow airmen were 
eventually transferred to Stalag Luft III, a POW camp, where they 
remained until their liberation.
  After the war, both men returned to the United States to resume their 
lives. Mr. Moser retired after 32 years on the Boston police force and 
lives with his family in Holbrook, MA. Mr. Chalot is a retired postal 
worker in Bradenton, FL.
  Up to this point, their stories are not dissimilar from those of the 
hundreds of other American POW's who were transported to the death 
camps. But unlike their comrades-in-arms, Mr. Moser and Mr. Chalot 
discovered after the war that they were not American citizens. Mr. 
Moser had come to the United States from Canada at the age of 6 months; 
Mr. Chalot had immigrated from France before the age of 2. Neither had 
been naturalized at the time of their military service, although both 
were granted citizenship upon their return.
  The fact that they were not American citizens had made no difference 
to the U.S. Army, nor had it prevented the Third Reich from sending 
them to Buchenwald. But 50 years later, when they applied under a 
United States-German agreement for compensation as American nationals 
who were victims of Nazi persecution, each was informed that he was not 
eligible because he was not a U.S. citizen at the time.
  I am sure all of my colleagues would agree that this is a great 
injustice which we must correct. The bills under consideration would 
make Mr. Moser and Mr. Chalot eligible for compensation by deeming them 
to be naturalized U.S. citizens as of the date they began their 
military service. It is urgent that we pass these bills now, because 
the State Department is about to forward to the German Government the 
list of those who are eligible to participate in the program.
  After what these men suffered in the service of our country, this is 
truly the least we can do.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read 
the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the 
table.
  The SPEAKER. This concludes the call of the Private Calendar.

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