[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 129 (Sunday, October 10, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO MR. IKE PEEL, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN S. TANNER

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 7, 2004

  Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a longtime 
friend of mine, a great Tennessean and an outstanding American, Mr. Ike 
Peel, Jr.
  Ike was born to grocery store operators Ike and Ethel Peel on June 
22, 1918. He graduated from Dyersburg High School in 1938 and attended 
the University of Tennessee at Knoxville on a football scholarship. 
There he met Judy ``Jewell'' Lady, whom he married on August 22, 1942.
  Ike graduated from UT with a degree in agriculture in 1942. An ROTC 
member, Ike was called to active duty on August 28, 1943. He was sent 
to South England to join the 4th Infantry division in March of 1944, 
and in May, 25-year-old Ike was made second lieutenant of a 54-man 
command-assault section. The group of young men, mostly 19 and 20 years 
old, was part of the first wave that invaded Normandy on December 6, 
1944.
  Ike's unit landed on Utah Beach, close enough to witness the fighting 
that was taking place on Omaha Beach. But Ike's section did its job: to 
go inland and meet the paratroopers from the 101st Airborne.
  Ike later served with General George S. Patton for six weeks before 
returning to the infantry. He was released from active duty on February 
20, 1945.
  Ike returned to coach at the University of Tennessee until 1957, when 
he, his wife and their two children returned to Dyer County. Ike ran 
the family business and began raising cattle on a farm that spanned 500 
acres. Ike retired in 1984, selling the farming business that had grown 
to engulf more than 2,400 acres.
  Now 86, Ike continues to be a vibrant part of the Dyersburg 
community, speaking to the Kiwanis Club about his D-Day experience on 
July 7 of this year. What an inspiration he is to us all.

                          ____________________