[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 6, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     AN AMERICAN PILOT RETURNS HOME

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ROY BLUNT

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 6, 2001

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to report to my Colleagues that 
another brave American pilot is coming home. However, this one is not 
returning from an air strike to destroy the Taliban hiding in 
Afghanistan; this pilot is returning from a mission against the enemies 
of Freedom who threatened our world over a half century ago in France.
  On January 15, 1945, First Lieutenant William Wyatt Patton Jr. of 
Stark City Missouri disappeared while flying his P-51 Mustang on a 
weather scouting mission out of an allied air base in Wormingford, 
England. After the events earlier this year, I am sure than too many 
families today know firsthand the sorrow and heartache that Lt. 
Patton's family felt in southwest Missouri when they learned that their 
son was missing. A year later their son was officially declared dead by 
the U.S. Army Air Corps. However like those families whose loved ones 
disappeared in the collapse of the World Trade Center, the sense of 
closure eluded the family whose son who still had not come home.
  William Patton was committed to serving our country. He first tried 
to enlist long before the outbreak of World War II at age 16. Official 
disapproval over his young age and small size didn't stop him. Shortly, 
thereafter he began working at a military mess hall eating what he 
could to gain the necessary weight and working diligently until he 
could join the Army. Lt. Patton eventually entered the service in 1934 
and was in Hawaii as a seasoned member of the military when the 
Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.
  Dedication and perseverance as a young airman marked his career as he 
earned the Distinguished Flying Cross; the Air Medal; the American 
Defense Service Medal with One Bronze Star; the European-Africa-Middle 
Eastern Theater Ribbon; Four Bronze Service Stars for participating in 
action in Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, and the Ardennes. 
He also received the purple heart.
  All soldiers are not fortunate enough to return home to their 
families after the battle and enjoy the freedoms they have fought to 
protect. Unfortunately, Lt. Patton was one of those.
  The remains of a P-51 Mustang were recently discovered in a farmer's 
field near the village of Longueville, France. The United states Army 
Central Identification Laboratory has now determined the remains of the 
body inside that aircraft are in fact those of a Missouri farm boy who 
gave his life as a soldier and as a patriot. Mr. Speaker, Lt. Patton is 
finally beginning his last journey home to his family in Southwest 
Missouri after fifty-six years. He will join his comrades in arms from 
every war since the Civil War in burial at the National Cemetery in 
Springfield, Missouri.
  As our young men and women in the service find themselves today 
scattered around the world waging war against terrorism, it is 
important to remember that in war all must be prepared to make the 
ultimate sacrifice. Some, sadly, will be required to actually make that 
sacrifice. However that sacrifice is not only made by the airman, the 
soldier, the sailor, the marine, or the guardsman, but by their family 
and their loved ones as well.
  To the family of Lt. William Patton, I would like to say thank you, 
this Congress thanks you, and the citizens of our country thank you. We 
understand that our freedom is purchased by the sacrifice made by Lt. 
William Patton and by you.

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