[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO CADET SHIRER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jenkins). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Mascara) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. MASCARA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Cadet Shirer, 
a lifelong Western Pennsylvanian, a very special person who is 
celebrating his 100th birthday.
  Mr. Shirer was born and raised in Westmoreland County in the 
community of Alverton, Pennsylvania, on March 31, 1898. He still calls 
Alverton his home, a community which also is the residence of his two 
children, Thomas and Joyce, and their families.
  I want to take this opportunity also to honor Mr. Shirer for his 
dedication to his country. At the age of 19, he joined the Army to 
defend his country during World War I. He served in the E Company of 
the 10th Pennsylvania Infantry, and later as a member of the medical 
troop that was shipped to France.
  He is one of the few remaining World War I veterans in Western 
Pennsylvania, and the last surviving charter member of the Veterans of 
World War I and the VFW Post in Scottdale, Pennsylvania.
  His commitment to the ailing troops did not end with the signing of 
the Armistice. For 20 years, beginning in 1961, Mr. Shirer took it upon 
himself to help veterans in Westmoreland County by providing them with 
the necessary transportation to the nearby Veterans Administration 
Hospital in Pittsburgh.
  I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Shirer at several events in my 
district. He is a distinguished man who still proudly wears the Army 
uniform when attending veterans events. What strikes me most about him 
is his ability to recite by memory John McCrae's great war poem, ``In 
Flander's Fields,'' and the Gettysburg Address, remember, without the 
assistance of notes. He is truly a remarkable man.
  In your honor, Mr. Shirer, we are having a flag flown over the 
Nation's Capitol building today. I join Mr. Shirer, his children, his 
grandchildren and his great grandchildren in wishing him a very happy 
100th birthday. He stands as a symbol for all veterans who have fought 
to keep this country's freedom.

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