[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 96 (Thursday, July 1, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MR. JOHN TOPOLEWSKI AWARDED FRANCE'S KNIGHT'S CROSS OF THE FRENCH 
                            LEGION OF HONOR

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                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 1, 1999

  Mr. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise with great pride to honor a 104 year 
old veteran in my district. John Topolewski was awarded France's Knight 
Cross of the French Legion of Honor on Wednesday, June 16, 1999 in 
Toledo, Ohio. The Knight's Cross is the highest award given by France 
to citizens of other countries. The award was presented to Mr. 
Topolewski by France's Consul General Alain de Keghel, the second 
ranking French official in the U.S., in front of a replica of the troop 
train which transported U.S. troops to France in World War I. Mr. 
Topolewski was one of those ``Doughboys` and a member of the 82nd 
Infantry Division. The nation of France has bestowed the Knight's Cross 
upon John Topolewski for uncommon valor in the trenches as he fought in 
the United States Army during World War I.
  The Greek historian Thucydides wrote ``remember that this greatness 
was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a 
sense of honor in action . . . but the bravest are surely those who 
have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger 
alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.'' As a young man at 
the dawn of his adulthood, John Topolewski embodied these words. He 
acted because he thought it his duty to his comrades, his country, and 
the world, not out of a desire for recognition, glory or awards. Consul 
General Keghel told him as he gave him the medal ``More than two 
million American soldiers were sent across the Atlantic Ocean. The 
French have not forgot their bravery more than eighty years later. 
Today it is your turn, Mr. John Topolewski, to be honored. You served 
in dangerous conditions. You belong for sure among the veterans here.''
  John Topolewski stands today as a symbol of thousands of nameless 
heroes of that first great world wide conflict, and the ones which 
followed. He is a reminder of the humanness in war, of sacrifices made 
to preserve liberty and regain freedoms withheld. Although I was unable 
to personally be with him as he received this belated honor, I salute 
John Topolewski, and thank him on behalf of the people of our nation 
and freedom lovers world-wide.

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