[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1525]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING PRIVATE CHESTER BEYMER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GEORGE RADANOVICH

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 13, 1999

  Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Private Chester 
Beymer upon his approval by the Government of France for the award of 
the National Order of The Legion of Honor. This award is the highest 
honor in France during World War I and is authorized in recognition of 
the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 
1918.
  Chester Beymer is 100 years old and a long time resident of Fresno. 
He served during World War I with the communications department of the 
U.S. Army Tank Corps, American Expeditionary Force. He enlisted in Los 
Angeles in August 1918 at age 19. Pvt. Beymer left for France that 
October as part of the Automatic Replacement Draft. Pvt. Beymer's 
duties in France involved working with two man French tanks at the U.S. 
Army Tank Corps Center in Langres, Haute Marne, France. He arrived 
shortly before the war ended and remembers being on a troop train on 
Armistice Day and seeing many French flags and townspeople cheering at 
the train stations. He came back to the United States in March 1919 on 
a Japanese troop ship.
  Chester Beymer was born on a farm in Tonganoxie, Kansas in 1898; he 
was one of six children in his family. In 1904 his family moved to El 
Modeno, California and by 1913 was settled in the San Joaquin Valley 
near Lindsey. After returning from World War I Chester worked in the 
Fresno area with the Southern Pacific Railroad and then the Alcohol and 
Tobacco Unit. He later worked with the Sugar Pine Lumber Company until 
the early 1930's. After prohibition he joined the Alcohol Tax Unit and 
later in 1941 the Income Tax Unit of the Treasury Department where he 
retired from in 1968. One hobby Chester enjoyed was being a ham radio 
operator. He still does his own taxes and considers the airplane and 
jet propulsion to be two of the most important inventions of the 20th 
century. His advice to the younger generation is to study hard while in 
school. Chester's extended family includes three sons, four 
grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Private Chester Beymer for his service 
to his country. I urge my colleagues to join me in wishing Chester many 
more years of continued success and happiness.

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