[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 59 (Friday, May 10, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IN MEMORY OF COLONEL FRANCIS S. GABRESKI, WORLD WAR II ACE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN P. MURTHA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 9, 2002

  Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to remember to my Colleagues 
and to this great Country a most extraordinary Veteran who passed away 
this year.
  Col Francis S. Gabreski, 83, America's air ace in Europe in WWII and 
an ace in the Korean War died January 31, 2002 of a heart attack.
  One of five children, Gabreski was born in Oil City PA on January 28 
1919. His parents were Polish immigrants. He would fly 266 combat 
missions in two wars destroying 37.5 enemy aircraft in World War II and 
6.5 in Korea.
  Flying single engine P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, Mr. Gabreski downed 
28 Messerchmitts and FockeWulfs over France and Germany between August 
24, 1943 and July 5, 1944, and destroyed three more German aircraft on 
the ground. He was captured in late July 1944 after crash-landing near 
Koblenz, Germany on what was to have been his last mission, and spent 
ten months as a prisoner of war. He became an ace (a pilot shooting 
down at least five enemy planes) in the Korean War as well, flying an 
F-86 Sabre jet. He shot down six Soviet-built MIG-15 fighters and 
shared credit for the downing of another.
  His flying days began after he graduated from basic training in 
March, 1941 as a second lieutenant, and joined a fighter unit at 
Wheeler Field in Hawaii. On the morning of December 7, 1941, he was 
shaving when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He scrambled to a P-36 
fighter but by then the Japanese aircraft were nowhere in sight.
  Because he spoke Polish and ``I felt strongly about what the Nazis 
had done to Poland,'' he asked to be assigned to a Polish fighter unit 
attached to the Royal Air Force. He flew some two dozen missions over 
Europe with Polish pilots early in 1943 before joining the United 
States 56th Fighter Group in Britain.
  After the war and a hero's welcome home, Gabreski worked for Grumman 
Aerospace and was head of the Long Island Rail Road, the nation's 
busiest commuter line.
  Gabreski once said, ``A pilot can contribute physical acumen, good 
eyesight and alertness. You have to be calm, cool and collected. 
Freeze, and you frighten yourself. But beyond that you need some luck 
to survive.''
  Gabreski lived in Dix Hills, NY. He is survived by three sons, six 
daughters, two sisters, eighteen grandchildren and four great 
grandchildren.
  Among Gabreski's decorations were: The Distinguished Service Cross, 
Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with nine 
Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with four Clusters, the Bronze Star, The 
French Legion D'Honneur and Croix de Guerre with Palm, Polish Cross of 
Valor, the British Distinguished Flying Cross and the Belgian Croix de 
Guerre.

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