[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 82 (Thursday, May 27, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S4510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH FLYNN

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to congratulate Joseph Flynn, a 
constituent and friend, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. It has 
often been said that our Greatest Generation is comprised of those 
Americans who pulled the country out of the depths of the Great 
Depression and went on to lead the Allies to victory in World War Two. 
My friend Joe Flynn is a quintessential member of that generation. One 
of 11 children born to immigrant parents in Chicago, he exemplifies the 
virtues of love of family, devotion to country, generosity to 
neighbors, and unstinting hard work.
  Growing up in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, the guiding light of 
Joe's life was his mother, Mary. She instilled in him the moral 
foundation that continues to guide him to this very day. Joe began his 
working life while still a boy, hawking newspapers on Chicago street 
corners and stocking shelves in the neighborhood grocery store. When 
Joe was just out of his teens, he, like so many other young men of his 
time, faced the prospect of his country going to war and calling on him 
to do his part.
  Except Joe didn't wait for his country to call--he enlisted in the 
Army 2 months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  Joe spent the next 4 years in the Army serving as a medic in the 
941st Field Artillery. His unit landed on Omaha Beach shortly after D-
day, was among the first American units to enter a liberated Paris, and 
saw action at the Battle of the Bulge.
  Despite all that, Joe--never one to complain--says that he had an 
easy war. His opinion is that the American men and women in uniform 
today are the ones with the tough duty. They are the ones that this old 
soldier respects.
  Coming home to a country at peace, Joe married his girlfriend, Martha 
Tampa, herself a veteran of the Women's Army Corps. They raised six 
children: Tim, Joe, Anne, Martha, Deborah and Kevin. Joe and Martha had 
been married for more than 57 years when Martha passed away, but if you 
ask Joe, he will no doubt tell you she is still very much alive in his 
heart.
  To provide for his family, Joe worked at the A. Finkl & Sons steel 
mill. He supervised the loading of multiton pieces of machined steel 
onto trucks to keep America's industrial base supplied. He rose at 4:30 
a.m. to take a CTA bus to his job, and he often worked 60 hours or more 
to earn the precious overtime money his family needed to pay for their 
mortgage, their groceries, and their education.
  As hard as Joe worked, when he got off the bus at night, he would run 
a half mile home because he couldn't wait to see his family. After 
greeting Martha and his kids, he would sit down and call his mother.
  The people Joe loves are everything to him, and he now has nine 
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren: Ryan, Meghan, Gwyneth, 
Gillian, Dylan, Ashley, Brittney, Courtney, Caitie, Ethan and Oliver. 
He also holds dear his children's spouses and significant others: Doug, 
Catherine and Bill.
  Joe's politics are simple. Being a lifelong working man--who still 
mows his own lawn and cleans his own gutters--he believes that the 
working men and women of the United States deserve their fair share of 
the country's prosperity in the good times and its help in the hard 
times.
  History doesn't often record people like Joe as being great men, but 
as his family will tell you, he is the greatest example of a good man 
they know.

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