[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H452-H453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING SAM JOHNSON

  (Mr. LARGENT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LARGENT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my colleague and 
friend, the Honorable Sam Johnson. Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Johnson) left Vietnam after nearly 7 years as 
a prisoner of war. He was shot down April 16, 1966, while flying his 
25th mission over Vietnam. Sam Johnson can teach us all a thing or two 
about valuing and never taking for granted our freedom because Sam 
Johnson lost his for 7 years.
  I would like, Mr. Speaker, if I could, to read one paragraph, an 
excerpt from his book ``Captive Warriors.'' Its says a lot about the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Johnson), my friend.
  ``I turned my attention toward God. When the guards increased their 
patrols and their vigilance and my talks with Howie had to be stopped, 
I could still talk freely to God. I knew with certainty that He was 
present in that dark, cramped closet of a cell. He listened when I 
prayed. This I knew without doubt. He answered me. When Bible stories 
and verses of comfort came into my thoughts, I knew He placed them 
there. I was comforted and encouraged. And I began to know my creator 
in a way I had never known Him before.
  ``I know now in retrospect that God's intimate interaction with me in 
the Mint strengthened me and built my faith so that I would be able to 
trust him in the darkness of the terrible days that still lay ahead for 
me.''
  Sam Johnson, a great American and defender of faith and freedom, we 
salute him today.

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