[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 66 (Thursday, April 24, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO ERNEST LeROY PETERSON

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                        HON. MARILYN N. MUSGRAVE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 24, 2008

  Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
patriotic public service and self sacrifice of Ernest LeRoy Peterson.
  Ernest LeRoy Peterson was born on December 28, 1920, in Albert Lea, 
Minnesota, to Oscar and Nora Peterson. He was the second eldest son of 
eight children. As a child, he moved to the eastern plains of Colorado, 
where his family was involved in farming.
  In August 1942, he was drafted into the 531st Anti-Aircraft Artillery 
Battalion, 30th Army Division, as a private. He completed basic 
training at Ft. Bliss, Texas and then advanced combat training at Camp 
Coxcomb, California. He later advanced to the rank of sergeant and 
section chief of Squad 13, Eighth Gun Crew.
  On February 12, 1944, his battalion sailed out of Boston Harbor 
aboard the RMS Empress of Australia, bound for England. The ship, one 
of the largest transport vessels, held 6,800 troops. Ernie's bunk was 
in the swimming pool due to the lack of space. After 10 days on the 
high seas, the unit debarked at the bomb-scarred city of Liverpool.
  On June 4, 1944, General Eisenhower spoke to Ernest and thousands of 
other troops over a loud speaker telling them an invasion of France 
would begin on June 6 and said, ``Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the 
Allied expeditionary force, you are about to embark upon the great 
crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of 
the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people 
everywhere march with you. . . . I have full confidence in your 
courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing 
less than full Victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing 
of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.''
  Ernest landed on Omaha Beach with the 531st on June 15th, nine days 
after D-day. Facing fierce battles along the way, Ernest's division 
first encountered the Germans at Isigny, France. During his march to 
Germany, Ernest participated in the Battle of the Bulge, which started 
on December 16, 1944. Three powerful German armies with over 500,000 
men plunged into the heavily forested Ardennes region of eastern 
Belgium and northern Luxembourg. The Americans were able to stop them 
at Malmedy.
  Ernest dug in his defensive position at Malmedy not more than 100 
yards from where 86 American prisoners had been massacred by the 
Germans the day before. For 5 days in a row his unit was under air 
attack in Malmedy by Americans who thought the city had fallen to the 
Germans. Ernest eventually marched into Germany and met up with Russian 
soldiers on April 17, 1945.
  Ernest's unit also went to Buchenwald concentration camp. They found 
piles of human bones and piles of eyeglasses five feet tall, as well as 
lamp shades made out of human skin. The prisoners that remained were 
skin and bone. Ernest did occupational duty as a guard at a prison in 
St. Marc, France, before returning to the United States. He received an 
honorable discharge from the Army on November 14, 1945.
  For his service to this Nation, Ernest was awarded the Good Conduct 
Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern 
Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Honorable Service 
Lapel Button, the Sharpshooter Badge and Rifle Bar and the Marksman 
Badge and Submachine Gun Bar. He was also awarded the Croix de Guerre 
by the French for volunteering to go on a special mission to push the 
Germans back across the Rhine River as well as the Fourragere of 
Belgium for his part in the liberation of Belgium.
  On April 13, 2008, Ernest LeRoy Peterson passed away at the age of 
87. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Charlotte, his two 
children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to pay tribute to Mr. Peterson and other 
men and women who have given so much for our freedom. Like so many 
other members of the ``Greatest Generation,'' I urge my colleagues to 
join me in expressing my heartfelt gratitude and sincere appreciation 
for the patriotic service of Mr. Ernest LeRoy Peterson.




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