[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 134 (Tuesday, October 24, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10938-S10939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE LATE BERNT BALCHEN FOR HIS MANY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 
              UNITED STATES ON THE CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration 
of S.J. Res. 36, and the Senate then proceed to its immediate 
consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the joint resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 36) recognizing the late 
     Bernt Balchen for his many contributions to the United States 
     and a lifetime of remarkable achievements on the centenary of 
     his birth, October 23, 1999.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the joint 
resolution.
  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 
that the joint resolution be read the third time and passed, the 
preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, 
and any statements relating to the joint resolution be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The joint resolution (S.J. Res. 36) was read the third time and 
passed.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The joint resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 36

       Whereas Bernt Balchen, as co-pilot and navigator with Floyd 
     Bennett and under the sponsorship of Joseph Wanamaker, flew 
     the Ford trimotor monoplane ``Josephine Ford'' on a flying 
     tour to more than 50 American cities in 1926, thereby 
     promoting commercial aviation as a safe, reliable, and 
     practical means of transport;
       Whereas in 1927 Bernt Balchen, piloting the first flight to 
     carry United States mail over the Atlantic Ocean, flew the 
     aircraft ``America'' to France under weather conditions so 
     adverse that he was forced to set the aircraft down in the 
     surf off Normandy at night, a maneuver that he executed so 
     skillfully that he saved all on board the aircraft;
       Whereas on November 29, 1929, Bernt Balchen, while 
     participating in the first expedition of Admiral Richard 
     Evelyn Byrd to Antarctica, became the first pilot to fly a 
     plane over the South Pole;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen was indispensable to the success of 
     various American expeditions in Antarctica under the 
     leadership of Admiral Byrd and Lincoln Ellsworth;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, under secret conditions and in 
     record time, was responsible for building in Greenland in the 
     autumn of 1941 the air base Sondre Stromfjord, then known as 
     ``Bluie West Eight'', that was used for ferrying warplanes to 
     Europe;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, as commander of ``Bluie West Eight'' 
     between September 1941 and November 1943, provided his 
     personnel with training in cold weather survival skills and 
     rescue techniques which enabled them to carry out many 
     spectacular rescues of downed airmen on the Greenland icecap;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, on May 7, 1943, successfully led a 
     bombing raid that destroyed the sole German post in 
     Greenland, a weather station and antiaircraft battery on the 
     east coast of Greenland, thereby hindering the ability of the 
     German armed forces to predict weather patterns in the North 
     Atlantic and Europe;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, between March and December 1944, 
     commanded an air transport operation that safely evacuated 
     from Sweden at least 2,000 Norwegians, 900 American 
     internees, and 150 internees of other nationalities and 
     transported strategic freight and numerous important 
     diplomats and Armed Forces officers;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, between July and October 1944, 
     commanded a clandestine air transport operation that 
     transported 64 tons of operational supplies from Scotland to 
     occupied Norway in defiance of severe enemy opposition;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, between November 1944 and April 
     1945, commanded a clandestine air transport operation that, 
     again in defiance of severe enemy opposition, transported 
     from England to Sweden 200 tons of arctic equipment and 
     operational supplies that were used to make clandestine 
     overland transport from Sweden to Norway possible;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, during the winter of 1945, made  C-
     47 aircraft under his command available to transport into 
     northern Norway the communications facilities that thereafter 
     transmitted from Norway intelligence of inestimable value to 
     the Allied Expeditionary Force;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, as one of the founders of the 
     Scandinavian Airlines System, pioneered commercial airline 
     flight over the North Pole, which increased business 
     development in Alaska and shortened the flying time necessary 
     for international flights between the United States and 
     points in Europe and Asia;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, from November 1948 to January 1951, 
     commanded the 10th Rescue Squadron of the United States Air 
     Force, which was headquartered in Alaska but ranged across 
     the entire northern tier of North America rescuing downed 
     airmen, and led the squadron in the development of the 
     techniques that are now universally used in cold weather 
     search and rescue operations;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen was the individual primarily 
     responsible for the pioneering and development of the 
     strategic air base at Thule, Greenland, which was built 
     secretly in 1951 under severe weather conditions and which, 
     by extending the range of the Strategic Air Command, 
     increased the capabilities that made the Strategic Air 
     Command a significant deterrent to Soviet aggression during 
     the Cold War;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, as Assistant for Arctic Activities 
     in the Directorate of Operations of the United States Air 
     Force, rendered expert advice on the development of concepts, 
     procedures, and programs pertaining to the Arctic that have 
     been consistently utilized by other agencies in planning 
     Arctic projects and operations of national and international 
     interest;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen served brilliantly as an officer in 
     the United States Air Force and contributed immeasurably to 
     the mission of the Air Force and the security of the United 
     States;
       Whereas the International Aviation Snow Symposium, of which 
     Bernt Balchen was a founder and honorary chairman, 
     established in 1976 the Balchen Award that is presented 
     annually to recognize excellence in the performance of 
     airport snow and ice removal, is sought avidly by the 
     managers of airports of all categories in the United States 
     and Canada, and has successfully encouraged progressive 
     improvement in cold weather airport safety and air travel;
       Whereas the United States Government has awarded Bernt 
     Balchen the Byrd Antarctic Expedition Congressional Medal, 
     the Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying 
     Cross, the Legion of Merit, the Soldier's Medal, and the Air 
     Medal, and other governments and societies have awarded Bernt 
     Balchen various other medals and awards in recognition of his 
     patriotism and remarkable achievement in aviation;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen, a native of Norway who became a 
     citizen of the United States on November 5, 1931, before a 
     Federal judge in Hackensack, New Jersey, and entered the 
     military service of the United States in the United States 
     Army Air Corps on September 5, 1941, at all times furthered 
     the cordial relationship between the United States of America 
     and the Kingdom of Norway, one of America's most-cherished 
     allies;
       Whereas Bernt Balchen was buried with full military honors 
     at Arlington National Cemetery on October 23, 1973; and
       Whereas October 23, 1999, is the 100th anniversary of the 
     birth of Bernt Balchen and is being observed as such in many 
     commemorative events taking place in the United States and 
     Norway: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That the late 
     Bernt Balchen is hereby recognized for his extraordinary 
     service to the United States, including the national 
     security.

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