[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 120 (Thursday, September 4, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11109-S11110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING GENERAL RAYMOND G. DAVIS

  Mr. MILLER. Madam President, I rise today to reflect on the life of a 
great American, a legendary marine, and a native Georgian. I refer to 
GEN Raymond G. Davis, who passed away yesterday in Georgia at the age 
of 88.
  General Davis was one of this country's greatest military heroes. He 
courageously served his country as a marine in World War II, in Korea, 
and in Vietnam during his 33 years of military service. General Davis 
was a noble veteran, tireless advocate, and distinguished recipient of 
the Medal of Honor.
  I know we have a lot of very important things going on in this 
Chamber today, but I don't think it is too much to take 3 or 4 minutes 
to remember one of the great battles in military history and the role 
this man played in it. I refer to the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, known 
as the Frozen Chosin. In the biggest shock of the war, 300,000 Chinese 
Communist soldiers crossed the Yalu River from China into North Korea 
and trapped 8,000 members of the first marine division at the Chosin 
Reservoir. There was only one way out, an icy road that twisted around 
steep mountains. If the Chinese gained control of it, all of the 
marines would be annihilated.
  Then LTC Raymond Davis was a 35-year-old Georgia Tech graduate with 
already two Silver Stars for heroism in Korea, and the Navy Cross, our 
second highest award, for gallantry at Peleiu.
  He commanded a battalion of marines faced with an impossible task: to 
get the marines on Fox Hill linked up with them or the thousands would 
be trapped at the reservoir and would be doomed.
  That afternoon, at 24-below-zero weather, the battalion began 
struggling up the side of a steep ridge. Davis's men climbed 1,000 
yards before the Chinese opened up. The marines kept clawing their way, 
inch by inch, up the icy slopes. They battled enemy soldiers who seemed 
tucked into every crevice. Atop the first ridge, the men's sweat froze 
on their eyebrows and beards. They put their wounded on stretchers and 
pushed on. The men rose and trudged toward still another ridge. All 
along, snipers picked at the slow exposed line, but there was no time 
for the marines to stop and fire back. They went downhill by sliding on 
the ice. Davis was so numb that three times he forgot a compass reading 
taken only moments before.
  At 4 a.m. this great Georgian halted his unit. The battalion was 
close to Fox Company, but it lost radio contact. Trying to reach that 
unit in the darkness without communication might get them caught in a 
crossfire. They would rest until daybreak. As Davis started to nap, a 
sniper's bullet pierced his sleeping bag and grazed his head. He tried 
again to sleep.
  By first light there was still no radio contact with Fox Company and 
Davis feared the unit had been overrun. Then came word from his radio 
operator: Colonel, he announced, we have Captain Barber on the radio.
  As the two officers talked, still hundreds of yards apart, both 
fought back tears. Late in the morning, Davis's battalion arrived atop 
Fox Hill. The Chinese had lost the battle for Toktong Pass.
  Within hours, two marine battalions were moving through the pass away 
from the Frozen Chosin. Many icy miles and more bitter fighting lay 
ahead before the marines reached the port, but the stand at Toktong 
Pass had opened the way.

  In 5 days, Fox Company had killed 1,000 of the enemy. Only 82 of the 
220 marines were able to walk off that hill. In 2 weeks, the first 
marine division moved over icy roads and ridges through eight Chinese 
divisions. The Americans brought out all their wounded, their dead, and 
the equipment. On the way, they killed 25,000 of the enemy. The marines 
lost 730 of their numbers.
  Such is the legacy of GEN Raymond Davis and those brave marines. 
General Davis received the Medal of Honor, a symbol of unusual human 
courage above and beyond the call of duty for his valiant efforts 
during the war. Over 1 million Americans served in Korea, and 131 of 
those were named recipients of the Medal of Honor. After the general's 
passing, only 36 of them live to wear it today. That medal is a tribute 
to perhaps the only thing truly noble in the horror of war.
  Although General Davis earned this Nation's highest military honor 
for valor while on active duty, his service to the country was far from 
over. Over the last 30 years, in a civilian capacity, General Davis has 
continued to lead in ways that few other Americans could match. Since 
his retirement, General Davis became a pillar of the community, working 
diligently on behalf of all of our Nation's veterans.
  Beginning in 1987, first as vice chairman and then later as chairman, 
General Davis was the one who directed the efforts of the Korean War 
Veterans Memorial Advisory Board, and it was his determination and 
personal initiative that led to the approval of the Korean War Veterans 
Memorial design and its construction and finally its dedication in July 
of 1995.
  The Nation's citizens, and in particular all Korean war veterans and 
marines and their families, are indebted to Raymond G. Davis for his 
inspired leadership and service. In war and in peace, as an active duty 
marine and as a private citizen, GEN Raymond Davis' outstanding 
courage, unswerving devotion to duty, inspiring leadership, and sound 
judgment have represented the highest traditions of military service 
and citizenship. This man was a true American hero.

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