[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 99 (Tuesday, July 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S8192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM OKONIEWSKI

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, this spring, William Okoniewski, one 
of Wilmington's best, passed away after a long career as a 
photographer. He was known throughout the community as the guy who shot 
all the pictures at weddings, high school graduations, communions, and 
confirmations.
  If you had the Okoniewski Studio logo in the corner of a photo, you 
knew it was quality work. This was before the era of digital cameras, 
when our standards were different.
  A couple of generations of Delawareans came to admire Bill, and his 
family. He and his wife of 64 years, Ceclia, had six children, and you 
could find him coaching winning track teams throughout the 1960s and 
1970s.
  At his funeral, when his son Stephen read a letter, it reminded me of 
just why we call Bill's generation the ``greatest generation.''
  The letter was from Art Slote, who on January 9, 1945, was one of 
five people rescued by Bill in the middle of the Battle of Herrlsheim, 
in France, near the German border.
  In the letter, Mr. Slote said how he had searched for Bill for years, 
contacting the Army, the Red Cross, and every phone book, trying to 
locate the guy who saved his life. He finally found him in the late 
1990s. He wrote:

       I frequently ponder over what impels a man to act as your 
     father did. He could have easily scurried to the rear to save 
     his own skin, and nobody would have criticized him. But he 
     didn't. I wonder if you or I would risk our lives in 
     another's behalf. It must be built into your father's 
     character and sense of morality.
       Although slow to admit it, your father's personal bravery, 
     his ability to set aside his fears in behalf of his wounded 
     fellow soldiers, his natural compassion for others in 
     trouble, his modesty in never talking to you about it make 
     this a valor and heroic event.

  There is a lesson in those words for all of us in this Chamber and 
for all Americans. Bill Okoniewski embodied everything that is uniquely 
American. He understood what it meant to be loyal to our country and to 
respect your fellow Americans.
  He, and his generation, set the example. Today, he is the model for 
the brave men and women in uniform who are performing equally dangerous 
acts every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  One day, and hopefully soon, they too will return home not only 
having served their country in time of war but going on to lead the 
kind of professional and family life that Bill lived for decades and 
decades.

                          ____________________