[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 6, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E474-E475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING DR. JAMES C. METTS, JR. UPON HIS RECEIPT OF THE AMERICAN 
                     CENTER OF POLISH CULTURE AWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 6, 2007

  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, the American Center of Polish Culture 
today presented

[[Page E475]]

Dr. James C. Metts, Jr. an award to recognize his research on the fate 
of General Casimir Pulaski's remains. Dr. Metts, coroner of Chatham 
County, Georgia, served as the chairman of a 10-year investigaton to 
positively identify General Pulaski's remains. Mr. Kingston and I want 
to congratulate Dr. Metts upon receiving this award.
  The birthday of Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski in George 
Washington's Continental Army was marked for the first time on Capitol 
Hill on Tuesday, March 6, 2007, the 262nd anniversary of his birth in 
Warsaw, Poland.
  To celebrate the occasion, the National Polish Center (also known as 
the American Center of Polish Culture of Washington, DC) sponsored a 
birthday breakfast at the Rayburn House Office Building. Among those 
who came were sponsors of the resolutions to make Pulaski an honorary 
U.S. citizen and other notables from Congress and the Polish-American 
community. The featured speaker, Dr. Thaddeus Radzilowski, was 
president of the Piast Institute in Detroit, Michigan, and former 
president of St. Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan.
  Dr. Metts was recognized for his leadership and report on General 
Pulaski, whose remains were found September 1996. They had been buried 
in a crypt under the Pulaski Monument in Savannah, Georgia, since 1853, 
though Pulaski had been widely rumored to have been buried at sea.
  Edward Pinkowski, internationally known authority on General Pulaski, 
was the chief sponsor of the Pulaski identification project.
  Pulaski's remains were examined by forensic specialists in Savannah 
since 1996. Dr. Metts said the remains are ``consistent in remarkable 
detail with the physical appearance, life history, and cavalry 
lifestyle of Casmir Pulaski.''
  Pulaski's remains were re-interred in October 2005 in front of the 
monument in Savannah's Monterey Square.
  At the Washington event, a wreath was laid at the heroic-size marble 
bust of Pulaski located in the Capitol Building. The bust was carved by 
Henry Dmochowski (1810-1863) from Carrara marble and moved to Capitol 
Hill in 1882.
  According to Jack Pinkowski, Ph.D., vice chairman of the National 
Polish Center, ``this first birthday celebration at the Capitol is 
important because it identifies Pulaski's correct birth date as March 
6, 1745. It also gives us an opportunity to recognize the 10 years of 
work of Dr. Metts and his team in Poland and in the United States.
  Casimir Pulaski was born and raised in Warsaw, the son of Count 
Joseph Pulaski, a member of the Polish parliament (Sejm). The young 
Pulaski won his reputation as a guerilla fighter in Poland's struggle 
for independence.
  Political intrigue forced him to leave Poland in 1772, and he spent 
time in Turkey, Germany, and France. He went to America in 1777 with a 
letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin, who was solicited by 
Pulaski's friends. Pulaski was commissioned by the Continental Congress 
as a brigadier general to command four cavalry regiments and later 
formed the Pulaski Legions.
  Among his exploits in the American fight for freedom were saving 
George Washington's life and the successful defense of Charleston in 
May 1778. He was wounded at the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779, 
and died on board the ship Wasp. He was secretly buried on Greenwich 
Plantation next to Thunderbolt Bluffs on the banks of the Wilmington 
River next to the plantation where the Wasp was tied up to a finger 
wharf and where Samuel Bullfinch, captain of the Wasp, wrote a letter 
that notified General Benjamin Lincoln of Pulaski's death. He said that 
Pulaski died on board his ship on October 15.
  Pulaski remains a symbol of Polish courage, Polish initiative, and 
Polish friendship for the United States.
  We thank Dr. James C. Metts, Jr. for his efforts to remind us of this 
American Revolutionary War hero, and congratulate him on his receipt of 
the American Center of Polish Culture award.

                          ____________________