[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 20, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H5848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                30TH ANNIVERSARY OF LANDING ON THE MOON

  (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on a lighter note, today, I 
think we ought to pause to remember the triumphant achievement of man's 
first steps on the moon. Thirty years ago today, my friend, Buzz 
Aldrin, landed the lunar module on the surface of the moon.
  Buzz and I went through flying school together and flew combat in 
Korea together. In 1969, while I was in solitary confinement as a POW 
in Vietnam, Buzz flew over in orbit. We did not know about it over 
there, because the Vietnamese told us the Americans were not able to 
land on the moon. But, Buzz, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins proved 
them wrong, and we found out about it later.
  Buzz was a fellow Air Force flying pilot, and he remembered us by 
wearing my POW bracelet and taking an American flag to the moon for all 
prisoners of war in Vietnam.
  Today, Buzz Aldrin, I want to say thank you and thank you to all our 
astronauts as the Nation celebrates a tremendous accomplishment, a walk 
on the moon. Here's to the future, Buzz, and to the astronauts who are 
working to reach Mars. We salute you. God bless America.

                          ____________________