[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO VETERANS OF NORMANDY LANDINGS

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                        HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO

                            of massachusette

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 21, 2007

  Mr. CAPUANO. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to sixteen heroic 
veterans of the D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy. On Saturday, 
May 19, 2007, the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de La 
Fayette, M. Francois Gauthier, Consul General of France in Boston, 
presented the cross of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor to sixteen 
citizens of Massachusetts: George Belesoz, Peter B. Bennan, Espen H. 
Christensen, John B. Crawford, James H. Curran, Mario J. De 
Cristofario, Michael Delisle, George DePaulo, James A. Foster, Milton 
Issengberg, George A. Jonic, Robert H. Lubker, John E. McBurney, Thomas 
I. Powers, Seymour L. Schnuer, and Riley P. Shirley. These remarkable 
men were already a highly decorated band of brothers: twelve had earned 
the Purple Heart; nine, the Bronze Star; two, the Silver Star; and 
three had previously been awarded the Croix de Guerre. Representatives 
of the Mohawk Nation also received honor and thanks for their 
contribution to the Allied victory.
  M. Gauthier read a letter from His Excellency Jean-David Levitte, 
French Ambassador to the United States, who had returned to Paris to 
serve as national security adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy. M. 
Levitte praised the heroes who, as young men, risked their lives for 
freedom: They came to Europe because they believed in the power of 
liberty and democracy; they believed in the power of human rights. They 
came to liberate populations from oppression and tyranny. And for this 
we are and we will always be grateful.
  I thank the government and the people of France for the honor 
bestowed on the soldiers and sailors of Massachusetts, and, like them, 
we must never forget the sacrifices of the greatest generation. I look 
forward to close friendship and continuing cooperation between our 
sister Republics as we carry on the struggle for human rights and human 
dignity.

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