[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 30 (Thursday, March 9, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1954-S1955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO GEORGE SMALL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today I rise to honor a man who has 
dedicated himself to serving our country and has made the sacrifices 
necessary to protecting our Nation's freedom during one of our most 
trying times.
  Mr. George Small was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1908 and then moved 
with his family to New York City as a child. Upon graduating from the 
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1935, he began to look for work. 
The country was deep in the throws of the Great Depression however, and 
there was none to be found. This sparked a move to California, where he 
found a job with a chemical plant near Death Valley. When the employees 
of the plant went on strike, George went on Active Duty in the Army; 
where he was already a 2nd lieutenant in the Army Reserves.
  George's active service began on April 25, 1941, and he began 
training at the Army Chemical Warfare School. In

[[Page S1955]]

October of the same year, he was transferred to the Philippines. This 
proved to be a fateful event. He arrived 6 weeks before the attack on 
Pearl Harbor and America's involvement in World War II. He was ordered 
to Bataan on Christmas Eve of 1941. He fought bravely alongside the 
other men of the 31st Infantry against overwhelming odds until the 
surrender of Bataan on April 9, 1942.
  Upon capture by the Japanese, George and the other 76,000 POWs set 
out on the infamous 55-mile Bataan death march to prison camps. Along 
the way, the prisoners endured intensely cruel and inhumane treatment. 
George watched as many of his friends were beaten and killed. It was 
during this agonizing journey that George promised himself he would 
survive the nightmare he was living.
  After 3\1/2\ years in captivity, George was liberated on September 
10, 1945. Even though he was severely malnourished, weighing only 98 
pounds, and suffered from malaria, he was still alive. George was 
awarded the American Defense Service Medal with one Bronze Star, 
American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with two Bronze 
Stars, Distinguished Unit Badge with Two Oak Leaf Clusters, Combat 
Infantry Badge, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Star, WWII 
Victory Medal, and the POW Medal.
  Following discharge from the Army on November 26, 1946, George 
remained in the Army Reserves until he retired at the rank of major in 
1968. He worked as a civil engineer for the State of California during 
the post-war years, and in 1954 he married his wife, Hadassa. They 
raised two daughters together.
  George recently celebrated his 98th birthday in Reno, making him the 
oldest former POW living in Nevada. He is truly an American hero, and 
has earned my admiration and the respect of all those who have known 
him. I offer him my gratitude and wish him all the best in the years to 
come.

                          ____________________