[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 113 (Tuesday, September 10, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S8447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             COMMUNITY HERO

  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I rise to salute a World War II 
veteran from my home State of Oregon. Today, I want to recognize the 
efforts of August F. ``Gus'' Smoorenburg, a member of the European 
resistance fighters who lived and struggled in Nazi occupied 
territories throughout the last century's largest and most destructive 
war.
  Born in Amsterdam in the 1920s, Gus was 19 years old when Germany 
invaded Holland, Luxembourg, and France. To stop the Germans, the Dutch 
tried using their own landscape, opening the country's famous dams and 
sluices to stop tanks and trucks filled with soldiers. After the brutal 
killing of thousands of civilians, including schoolchildren, the Dutch 
surrendered on May 15, 1940.
  The European resistance fighters, as they have come to be known, 
began as independent groups of youths clandestinely sabotaging the 
occupying German forces by whatever means at their disposal. Resistance 
groups sprang up in every Nazi-occupied country. Gradually, like-minded 
people banded together and worked in secret to overthrow the invaders. 
Dutch, French and Polish youths risked their lives day and night to 
slow the advance of the Nazi forces. They accomplished small victories 
by such simple methods as rearranging traffic signs and filling the gas 
tanks of their enemy's vehicles with sugar. These groups became a part 
of an organized European resistance movement when they finally 
established short-wave radio contact with London and received coded 
messages.
  The risks of joining the resistance were great. A resistance worker 
caught by the Nazis faced certain death. The Germans sometimes rounded 
up and executed hundreds of civilians in revenge for an act of 
sabotage. Gus' life was no exception to this backlash to the resistance 
fighters. By 1944 his family was living on meager rations of tulip 
bulbs and two of his fellow resistance fighters and a cousin had been 
executed by firing squad.
  The ferociousness of the fighting and danger that these unsung heroes 
faced are conveyed by his description of the bombing of Dortmund: 
``This sight I cannot ever forget: burning roofs collapsing, burning 
window sills and brick walls crashing down on sidewalks, bricks and 
debris lying everywhere from roads as well as from houses, blown to 
pieces. It is unforgettable . . . to see and feel a city, an entire 
city, on fire.''
  Gus moved to Portland, OR in 1977 to be closer to his oldest 
daughter. He has been a valuable member of the community and a welcome 
piece of living history. I believe it is time that he, along with other 
resistance fighters, be recognized for the sacrifices they selflessly 
made fighting the oppressive forces of fascism during those dark years.
  Each allied nation is indebted to patriots such as Gus; without their 
invaluable efforts the greatest war of the last century might have 
lasted much longer and cost many more thousands of lives. It is with 
humble respect and praise that I offer my recognition today to Gus and 
the European resistance fighters.

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