[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 23, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF SAMUEL AMASA PEER

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                             HON. PAUL RYAN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 23, 2004

  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, it is with profound sadness that 
I rise today to recognize the life of Samuel Amasa Peer of Beloit, 
Wisconsin, who passed away on March 7, 2004, at 79 years of age. Sam 
was a courageous veteran of the Second World War, and his hard work, 
diligence and willingness to face the most difficult of problems have 
inspired those who knew him. He will be greatly missed by his family 
and loved ones, and I ask my colleagues to join me in sharing my 
thoughts and prayers with them during this difficult time.
  I am honored to pay tribute to this outstanding individual and would 
like to read before the Congress the eloquent eulogy given by his 
grandson, Adam Peer.

              Eulogy of Samuel Amasa Peer, March 13, 2004

       My grandfather like all of us was complex, understood only 
     by his Creator. Early on he learned that there was little he 
     could expect from his own parents. Born during the midst of 
     the Great Depression, he was thrust into manhood when duty 
     called him to care for and protect his younger siblings.
       It is hard for me to imagine the world he came into. When 
     he answered his second call to duty aboard the USS West 
     Virginia, a question of whether a free world would survive 
     was very real and very unknown. The hardship that was born 
     into and the war that tempered him during his youth is what 
     exemplified him as a self-made American in the very truest 
     sense of the term. And he took great pride in that.
       Much of what he did to do his part in making the world safe 
     for democracy will be lost to antiquity. He always kept the 
     most essential parts of himself so private and well-guarded 
     that it put limits on the things he could talk about, even to 
     those that most desperately needing his acknowledgment and 
     love.
       But, the unspoken gifts he leaves all of us are very real.
       I have never met someone more diligent and hard-working 
     than my grandfather, and that lives on in my father. My 
     grandfather was so proud of the man you became.
       I have never met someone who expresses what they feel so 
     passionately and with greater conviction, and that lives on 
     in my sister. The same passion for right over wrong and 
     freedom over oppression burns in her heart.
       And I hope I never lose his optimism for the future; he 
     never met a problem that couldn't be solved.
       Today, as another member of the ``greatest generation'' 
     passes from this life to the next, we inherit what they have 
     instilled in us and the unfinished tasks now left to younger 
     hands.
       It is now our charge to leave this world a better place 
     than we found it, and like my grandfather and his generation, 
     inspire another generation to great things.

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