[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 7, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H4166-H4167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MEDAL OF HONOR FOR DICK WINTERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to 
introduce legislation to authorize and request the President of the 
United States to award the Medal of Honor to Richard D. Winters of 
Hershey, Pennsylvania, for acts of valor on June 6, 1944, in Normandy, 
France while an officer in the 101st Airborne Division.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not take this issue lightly. It is with extreme 
concern that I had to resort to taking this action to right a wrong 
that occurred 61 years

[[Page H4167]]

ago. 61 years ago, Mr. Speaker, on D-Day at a placed called Brecourt 
Manor, Dick Winters led an ad hoc group of paratroopers, mostly from E 
Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, against a numerically 
superior force of German defenders, manning a battery of four 105-
millimeter guns.
  These guns were zeroed in on firing on Utah Beach during the initial 
D-Day seaborne landings. With only 12 men, Dick Winters led the attack 
that destroyed the German battery, killed 15 Germans, wounded many 
more, and took 12 prisoners.
  The base-of-fire technique that Dick Winters used would become a 
textbook case for assault on a fixed site and is still taught at West 
Point.
  Winters and his men destroyed these guns during a vicious engagement, 
lasting over 2 hours against heavy machine gun and infantry fire. This 
action saved countless American lives on Utah Beach. Dick would later 
be wounded, refused to be evacuated, maintaining that he would stay 
with his company.
  He was nominated for the Medal of Honor by Colonel Robert Sink, his 
commanding officer of the 506th Regiment, a West Point graduate. His 
application for denial of the medal was based on an utterly arbitrary 
reason. The division commander directed that only one Medal of Honor 
was permitted to be awarded in the 101st Airborne Division for the 
Normandy campaign.
  Mr. Speaker, it was never the intent of Congress to have an 
artificial limitation imposed on a solder who committed acts of heroism 
and bravery as documented by his colleagues, by his subordinates, and 
by his leaders. Winters was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, 
the Nation's second highest military award for his actions. This is a 
high honor, but he deserves the Medal of Honor as recommended by his 
commanding officer.
  The Army has reviewed the matter and maintains that the Distinguished 
Service Award is appropriate. Thousands of people worldwide disagree. 
Again, Mr. Speaker, because of an artificial limitation imposed by the 
commander of the 101st Airborne that only one medal be given for the 
Normandy campaign, Dick Winters' recognition and the recognition of 
those who served with him have been denied.
  Dick Winters was immortalized by HBO in the miniseries ``Band of 
Brothers,'' produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Andy Ambrose, 
the son of Stephen Ambrose who wrote ``Band of Brothers,'' has publicly 
supported Winters for the Medal of Honor, and so have thousands of 
other people all across the country, including every military person 
that served with Dick Winters and observed his heroism.
  The entire Pennsylvania congressional delegation, all 19 members, 
Democrats and Republicans, including the gentleman from Hershey, 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Holden), where Dick Winters resides, have signed on 
as original co-sponsors of this legislation. Both chambers of the 
Pennsylvania State legislation having agreed and have publicly 
supported and passed legislation encouraging Congress to take this 
action.
  Dick Winters is a humble man. He did not want this kind of attention. 
In fact, those who have supported this effort who came to me have said 
that Dick Winters did not want this to take place. But all of those 
people who served with Dick Winters, all of those soldiers who were 
there, who saw, who observed, and who realized his heroism in landing 
on D-Day and taking Easy Company all the way in to Hitler's 
headquarters, understand that Dick Winters deserves the Congressional 
Medal of Honor.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, when Congress enacted the legislation creating 
the Medal of Honor, it did not allow artificial imposition of 
limitations. It said whatever soldier under any condition that is 
recognized by his or her peers for their actions should be eligible to 
receive this commendation.
  In the case of Dick Winters, because of an artificial limitation, he 
has been denied that solemn honor of our country.
  My bill does not mandate that the President award this Medal of 
Honor. It simply authorizes and allows the President to make this honor 
if he so chooses.

                              {time}  2015

  Mr. Speaker, we just celebrated D-Day. Sixty-one years later, when 
hundreds and thousands of American men stormed the beaches to liberate 
Europe, one of those bravest heroes, one of those extraordinary of the 
ordinary people who responded was Dick Winters. I encourage my 
colleagues to sign on and join us in righting this wrong and providing 
the support for the President to give Richard D. Winters the Medal of 
Honor.

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