[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 94 (Monday, June 9, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1168]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE USS PONCHATOULA SHIPMATES ASSOCIATION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE SESTAK

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 9, 2008

  Mr. SESTAK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 2008 
gathering of the USS Ponchatoula Shipmates Association. As these 
remarkable Sailors, their families and friends spend time together this 
week, they represent over sixty years of dedication to the Navy's core 
values of Honor, Courage and Commitment.
  These patriotic Americans keep alive the memory of their courageous 
predecessors who sailed into harms way aboard namesakes of USS 
Ponchatoula from 1944 until 1992. In that timeframe Sailors of that 
proud ship fought in WWII, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and other 
crises around the world. It is important that we all pause to imagine 
the courage and stamina it took to sail AOG-38 almost immediately from 
shakedown cruise into the battle of Okinawa. Carrying over a thousand 
tons of highly flammable fuel and limited to a maximum speed of ten 
(10) knots, the crew of only 62 brave souls spent days defending their 
precious cargo, and one another so that innumerable ships and small 
craft could support the invasion of Okinawa. All the while they knew 
that a torpedo, Kamikaze attack, or a simple electrical or propulsion 
fire could cause their ship and all onboard to be quickly lost in a 
conflagration of the most devastating form. With her mission complete 
AOG-38 got underway 14 December 1945 to transit home to the United 
States for deactivation.
  Thankfully, it is a custom of our great Navy to reward the courageous 
performance of a ship and crew in combat by renaming a successor to 
that ship. And so it was, when USS Ponchatoula (AOG-38 and later T-AO-
148) was built by proud craftsmen, some no doubt from the 7th 
Congressional District of Pennsylvania, in Camden, NJ and commissioned 
in January 1956. From 1956 until 1992 new generations of U.S. Navy 
Sailors and Military Sealift Command Mariners served proudly over most 
of the globe in supporting the ever expanding striking power of our 
naval forces.
  In my thirty-one years of naval service, I was often reminded that 
``tactics are for amateurs and logistics are for experts.'' It has been 
ships and crews like the USS Ponchatoula who have been the foundation 
of our nation's sea power by affording naval commanders and planners 
the logistics, mobility, flexibility and persistence necessary to win 
every engagement and deter many more.
  Madam Speaker it gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the efforts 
of my constituent and Navy Veteran, Mr. John J. Bury of Media, PA and 
the officers of the USS Ponchatoula Shipmates Association for their 
commitment to their ship, one another and the future Sailors who will 
answer our nation's call to go down to the sea in defense of our 
precious freedoms.
  To the USS Ponchatoula Shipmates Association our nation says ``Bravo 
Zulu'' and God Speed.

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