[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 128 (Wednesday, October 5, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S11121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE PASSING OF COLONEL CLARENCE LEE TURNIPSEED, JR.

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, last month, COL Clarence Lee Turnipseed, 
Jr., passed away. He was the father of my good friend, and one of the 
Senate's best and most indispensable workers, Mrs. Dot Svendson, who 
works in the Office of the Secretary of the Senate. With the death of 
Colonel Turnipseed, the State of Alabama has lost an outstanding 
citizen and our Nation has lost a true patriot.
  Born September 18, 1914, in Union Springs, AL, Clarence Turnipseed 
graduated from Auburn University in 1935. That same year he was 
commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and began a 
remarkable and important military career. During World War II, he 
served as a battery commander and battalion staff officer of the 42nd 
Field Artillery Battalion of the Fourth Infantry. On June 6, 1944, 
Captain Turnipseed participated in the momentous D-Day landing on Utah 
Beach in Normandy. A few months later, he participated in the Battle of 
the Bulge. He was eventually promoted to the rank of colonel, served as 
commander of the 87th Maneuver Area Detachment in Birmingham, AL, and 
was an instructor at the Command and General Staff College in Fort 
Leavenworth, KS.
  A grateful Nation recognized Colonel Turnipseed's long and productive 
military career by presenting him with a number of awards and honors. 
Those included the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal, the 
American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the 
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.
  Colonel Turnipseed also had an important and productive civilian 
career in banking and business. He worked in a number of banks and 
financial institutions in Alabama. In 1968, he became president and 
chief executive officer of the First National Bank in Brewton. He 
eventually held a number of offices in the Alabama and American Bankers 
Associations, including president of the Alabama Bankers Association 
and vice president of the American Bankers Association. In 1973, he 
became director of the Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank in 
Atlanta, and 3 years later was named Alabama's Small Business Advocate.
  I extend Erma's and my most heartfelt condolences to Mrs. Svendson 
and to her brother, Clarence Lee, and to her sisters, Rebecca and 
Margaret.

                          ____________________