[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 91 (Friday, July 14, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO LT. GEN. JAMES M. LINK OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

                                 ______
                                 

                    HON. ROBERT E. (BUD) CRAMER, JR.

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 13, 2000

  Mr. CRAMER. Mr. Speaker, it has come to my attention that Lieutenant 
General James M. Link is retiring after 33 years of exemplary service 
in the United States Army. He has served his country with dignity, 
honor, and integrity.
  General Link was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up in North 
Carolina. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army 
Ordnance Corps in 1967 after completing undergraduate work at Methodist 
College and graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill. He also has a master's degree in business administration from the 
University of Tennessee. His military education includes the Army 
Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the 
Armed Forces. He holds honorary doctorate degrees from Methodist 
College and the University of Alabama, Huntsville
  A veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm, General Link has held numerous 
command and staff positions leading to his current assignment as Deputy 
Commanding General, Army Materiel Command. Most recently, he was Chief 
of Staff of U.S. Army Materiel Command. Prior to that, he served as 
Commander, U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL. (now 
Aviation and Missile Command) from June 1994 to July 1997 and Deputy 
Commander, 21st Theater Army Area Command, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh 
Army, from July 1993 to June 1994. From January 1992 to June 1993, he 
served as the MICOM Deputy Commanding General. He also served at MICOM 
from 1986 to 1989 as Director of Materiel Management Directorate in 
what is now the Integrated Materiel Management Center, and served as 
the Acting Director of this organization for eight months.
  He has held various logistical and staff assignments. While 
Commander, 16th Corps Support Group, V Corps, Hanau, Germany, he 
deployed to Southwest Asia in support of VII Corps during Operations 
Desert Shield and Storm. He was Deputy for Training Developments, U.S. 
Army Combined Arms Support Command; Chief, Ordnance Assignment Branch, 
MILPERCEN; Commander, 194th Maintenance Battalion, Camp Humphreys, 
Korea; and Department of the Army Staff Officer, Office of the Deputy 
Chief of Staff, Logistics. In Vietnam, he served as Company Commander 
and Technical Supply Officer, 173rd Airborne Brigade.
  General Link's awards and decorations include: the Distinguished 
Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters), the 
Bronze Star Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Meritorious Service 
Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Commendation Medal (with Oak 
Leaf Cluster), the Army Achievement Medal, the Senior Army Parachute 
Badge, and the Army General Staff Identification Badge.
  Mr. Speaker, Lieutenant General Link deserves the thanks and praise 
of the nation that he has faithfully served for so long. I know the 
members of the House will join me in wishing him, his wife of 30 years, 
Judy and his daughter, Carey, all the best in the years ahead.

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