[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 49 (Thursday, April 5, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEATH OF ROBERT M. TALLON, FATHER OF FORMER REPRESENTATIVE ROBIN TALLON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 4, 2001

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House who served with 
Representative Robin Tallon of South Carolina should know that on 
January 28, 2001, his father passed away. Robert M. Tallon was 78, and 
died of a heart attack while doing what he loved, bird hunting in South 
Carolina.
  Bob Tallon was an airborne infantryman in World War II, one of those 
soldiers of whom it was said, ``uncommon valor was a common virtue.'' 
As a staff sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division, Bob Tallon fought 
his way from Sicily up the boot of Italy. After waging some of the 
fiercest fighting of the war in Italy, he parachuted with the 82nd into 
Holland as part of the bloody operation that Cornelius Ryan 
immortalized in ``A Bridge Too Far,'' and fought his way from Remagen 
into the Rhineland.
  Bob Tallon came home with his chest full of medals, including Bronze 
Stars and a Purple Heart. Though worthy of being called a hero, he 
never thumped his chest or boasted of his valor. He lived his life with 
the quiet abiding confidence that he had served his country and done 
his duty.
  Though he distinguished himself as a soldier, Bob Tallon's finest 
accomplishment in life was in marrying Mary Williamson Tallon, a school 
teacher and a dear woman loved by all who know her. Indeed, anyone who 
has met Bob and Mary Tallon understands how Robin Tallon got his 
affable personality and affinity for politics. In addition to Robin, 
our former colleague, Bob and Mary Tallon had another son, Terry, and a 
daughter, Cameron.
  Bob Tallon returned home from the war to Dillon County, South 
Carolina, and became President of Tomlinson Stores. He was a mainstay 
in the Methodist Church and a pillar of the community, involved in 
every good cause from the Lions Club to the Hospice Society.
  Though Bob Tallon lived most of his life within the radius of Dillon, 
a small town in South Carolina, he lived the kind of life that made 
this country great. As President Clinton said at Anzio of his own 
father who also fought in Italy, ``They made possible the world we live 
in.''

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