[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING THE SERVICE OF RETIRED MASTER SERGEANT JOHN IRVIN ROWLAND

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                           HON. DUNCAN HUNTER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 17, 2005

  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Retired Master 
Sergeant John Irvin Rowland of Montross, Va., who died on March 6th at 
the Virginia Veterans Care Center in Roanoke at the age of 87. John's 
daughter, Michelle served on my staff and Michelle often spoke of her 
father and his commitment to his country.
  Sgt. Rowland was born September 1, 1917 in Fayette, Alabama and spent 
most of his childhood in Westbrook, Texas. After graduating from 
Westbrook High School in 1934, he worked the oil fields of Western 
Texas for Standard Oil.
  John Rowland enlisted in the Army in 1940 and served with the 36th 
ID, 142nd Infantry, Antitank Company (the T-Patchers) until June 1945. 
In World War II, he fought with allied forces in the Italian/Southern 
France campaigns and was awarded his first Bronze Star and a Purple 
Heart for injuries he received while fighting in France. While in 
Germany, his unit liberated German concentration camps Dachau, Hurlach 
and Landsberg, and captured Nazi Luftwaffe Commander and war criminal, 
Hermann Goering. At the end of the war, he returned to Texas and 
continued working for Standard Oil.
  But when his country needed him again, John re-enlisted in the Army 
and earned his second Bronze Star fighting in Korea. Following his 
training at the Intelligence School at Fort Hollabird in 1951, he 
served as a special agent in the Army Intelligence Corps in both 
Okinawa and then Berlin. He was one of the first Americans to observe 
East German activity as they began construction of the Berlin Wall in 
1961. In Berlin, he met Ingrid Anna Zilenski and the two were married 
on December 30, 1962 and shortly thereafter retired from the Army and 
returned to Monahans, Texas.
  After his discharge, he attended electrician training at the National 
Technical School in Los Angeles. In 1964, John took a job with the 
Social Security Administration in San Francisco and then for the 
Department of Defense in Philadelphia. He would eventually retire in 
1984 from the DoD Logistics Agency where he inspected security systems 
for DoD contractors.
  In all of his 40 years of service to our country, Sgt. John Rowland 
exemplified the virtues of honor, dignity, and leadership. He is being 
buried today at Arlington National Cemetery and I join the Rowland 
family in mourning Sgt. Rowland's passing.

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