[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 65 (Monday, May 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S4886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO JOHN WINTERHOLLER

 Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, although little noticed, a native 
son of Montana passed away at his home in Lafayette, CA.
  John Winterholler, a three-sport Hall of Famer at the University of 
Wyoming was a survivor of the Bataan death march.
  Winterholler was among the inaugural class inducted into the 
University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993. He lettered in 
baseball, basketball, and football from 1936-1939.
  Upon graduation in 1940, he accepted a commission as a lieutenant in 
the United States Marine Corps rather than play professional baseball.
  Winterholler served with the 4th Marine Regiment on Bataan and 
Corregidor in the Philippines and suffered brutal treatment as a 
Japanese prisoner during World War II.
  During captivity, he experienced severe weight loss and was paralyzed 
from the waist down and near death from malnutrition. He was confined 
to a wheelchair the rest of his life.
  He earned two battlefield decorations, the Silver Star and the Bronze 
Star with ``V'' for valor before Corregidor fell, and he subsequently 
received the Purple Heart and 26 other medals and awards for his 
service in the United States Marine Corps. He retired with the rank of 
colonel.
  Although he was born in Billings, MT, he grew up just over the 45th 
parallel which is known as the Montana/Wyoming State line. It was there 
in Lovell, WY, where he met his future wife, Dessa. They both attended 
the University of Wyoming and were married in 1945 in his hospital room 
at Mare Island Naval Base in Vallejo, CA, shortly after his release 
from the Japanese prison camp.
  He is just another American who has given so much for this country 
and all it stands for. An American that believed in the future of this 
country so deeply that he gave all that was asked in her defense. I, 
like many, give thanks every day for what they sacrificed and their 
dedication.
  He is survived by a daughter, Deborah Harms; a son, David; a sister, 
Lydia Showalter; and three brothers, Henry, Phillip, and 
Alfred.

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