[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 15, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1642-E1643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO LOUIS WOLFGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LATHAM

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 15, 2010

  Mr. LATHAM. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Louis Wolfgram, a 
Vietnam War Army and National Guard veteran from Boone County, Iowa, 
and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his 
country.

[[Page E1643]]

  The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles 
that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to 
Veterans Day. Louis Wolfgram was recognized on Tuesday, June 22. Below 
is the article in its entirety:

                 Boone County Veterans: Louis Wolfgram

                        (By Alexander Hutchins)

       Louis Wolfgram, 60, Command Sergeant Major (retired) of the 
     Iowa National Guard, has recently returned to State Active 
     duty on Retiree Recall after retiring on his 60th birthday 
     June ninth.
       Wolfgram was born in Sumner, Iowa to a family with nine 
     children. His father had served in the Army Air Corps in 
     World War II, but Wolfgram was the only child out of his 
     eight siblings that served in the military. Wolfgram's father 
     owned a grocery store in Sumner.
       ``He saw the writing on the wall that the small-town 
     grocery was going to disappear and went into insurance,'' 
     Wolfgram said. The family moved to Jefferson, Iowa and then 
     Boone. In 1968 Wolfgram graduated Ryan High School.
       One year later, in 1969, he was drafted.
       On January 28 of 1970 Wolfgram went on Active Duty and 
     proceeded to receive training in accounting and stock control 
     after a stint in Fort Des Moines, Fort Lewis and Fort Lee. 
     After being trained to do both manual and mechanical 
     accounting (using computers he described as half the size of 
     a table) he received two weeks leave and then deployed to 
     Vietnam.
       Wolfgram received his choice of specialty in the Army, but 
     in exchange for his preference in duty he made a three-year 
     commitment to the Army rather than the standard two. Wolfgram 
     served for 18 months in Vietnam at a large supply post in a 
     rear area of Vietnam.
       ``I was a logistician,'' he said. ``We pulled perimeter 
     guard and did sweeps in the morning. I wasn't out beating the 
     bush like the infantry guys were.''
       When he returned from two years in Vietnam, Wolfgram was 
     offered the option of serving a year at Fort Hood, a year in 
     Germany or leaving the Army a year early. Wolfgram took the 
     option to leave the service, but says now he regrets not 
     joining the National Guard immediately after leaving the 
     Army.
       ``I was out for about five years,'' Wolfgram said, and 
     during this time he worked for John Deere.
       In October of 1977 he joined the National Guard, where he 
     is still serving after his retirement.
       Wolfgram said some of his fondest experiences are his 
     travels throughout the U.S. and to Norway, Japan and Korea. 
     He has been working full-time in the National Guard since 
     1986.
       ``The floods of '93 were a real, major event, just with all 
     the manpower the guard put out there and the situations that 
     we put our soldiers in that could have been catastrophic,'' 
     Wolfgram said.
       He served as the Task Force Command Sergeant Major for the 
     National Guard in Des Moines at the time of the flood and was 
     impressed by how lucky the soldiers were in all the dangerous 
     work they did fighting the flood.
       Wolfgram said he was especially proud of the work he did 
     with the Iowa Military Academy and the opportunities he has 
     received through the academy to train younger soldiers in 
     leadership roles. Wolfgram served two years as the Enlisted 
     Senior Instructor for the Academy.
       ``That was a fruitful time in my career,'' he said.
       Wolfgram was also assigned for 14 years in the Boone Army 
     National Guard base as a supply and food service 
     administrator.
       ``You see a lot of happy faces when guys get good chow,'' 
     he said with a laugh.
       Before his retirement, Wolfgram was serving as an enlisted 
     advisor to the Judge Adjutant General of the Iowa Guard, 
     advising the commander of the Iowa Guard on meeting the needs 
     of the soldiers.
       In 1990 Wolfgram earned his degree in business and 
     accounting, partly due to the credits he earned while serving 
     in the Guard. He said he appreciated his education and all 
     the opportunities he received to work with his leadership 
     skills.
       ``One thing I regret is not joining the guard immediately 
     after leaving active duty, and the other is that I didn't get 
     to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan,'' he said. ``Some people 
     would say `You're nuts for wanting to do that,' but it's part 
     of what you swore in for and signed up for.''
       He said it is important to remember that many soldiers do 
     not deploy, and he is always impressed working with combat 
     veterans of previous eras.
       For the past ten years Wolfgram has worked on the military 
     funerals honor team, work that has given him tremendous 
     respect for the men and women who deploy overseas.
       Wolfgram was most impressed with how well prepared and 
     supported the soldiers of today are, something he is acutely 
     aware of after his time in Vietnam. He and his wife currently 
     care for two of their grandchildren, and he said he will 
     enjoy taking them out boating this summer, as well as finally 
     being able to grow a beard.

  I commend Louis Wolfgram for his many years of loyalty and service to 
our great Nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United 
States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

                          ____________________