[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 125 (Thursday, September 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1666-E1667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO DONALD ERB

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LATHAM

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 16, 2010

  Mr. LATHAM. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Donald Erb, a World 
War II Army veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my 
appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.
  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. Donald Erb was recognized on Tuesday, September 14. Below 
is the article in its entirety:

                   Boone County Veterans: Donald Erb

                           (By Greg Eckstrom)

       At 84 years old, Donald Erb might be considered one of the 
     younger veterans of World War II, but still shares many 
     characteristics with other WWII veterans of the time. He is 
     disciplined, modest and sees military service as many did in 
     his time . . . as more of a duty than an option.
       Moving to Boone County with his family at a very young age 
     in 1929, Erb graduated from Ogden High School and was 
     immediately drafted into the Army as an infantry soldier in 
     1944.
       ``I graduated high school in 44 and went into the Army in 
     44,'' he said. ``Just as soon as I got out of high school. We 
     went to a replacement depot and wherever they needed soldiers 
     was where they sent you. I went to Camp Walters, Texas, for 
     16 weeks training and then we shipped to the Philippines.''
       Erb arrived in the Philippines just as the heavy fighting 
     in Manila was finishing up and jungle warfare was going on 
     outside the city. A machine gunner during his time stationed 
     there, Erb recalls his fellow soldiers as being one of the 
     best parts about his service.
       ``Buddies, friends,'' he said when asked about his favorite 
     part of service. As far as what stood out to him most in his 
     time overseas, however, the answer was the difficulty of 
     fighting in the jungle.
       ``I think jungle warfare,'' he said. ``All these supplies 
     were brought in by water buffalo. Any injuries or anybody 
     that was hit or killed was carried out by Filipino litter 
     bearers. We didn't have any roads. As we took the jungle and 
     got control of it, then bulldozers made roads.''
       As roads were bulldozed into the jungles, tanks were 
     brought in to clean out the caves.
       ``They bulldozed a major road there and brought tanks in 
     with flamethrowers and cleaned out the caves and stuff in 
     there by using flamethrower tanks,'' he said.
       Erb also recalls the final days of World War II, when 
     atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Like 
     many WWII veterans, he saw the bombs, and the resulting end 
     of the war, as a Godsend.
       ``The atomic bomb, I would say, saved my life,'' he said. 
     ``Because every man, woman and child would have been armed in 
     Japan. It probably saved the lives of a lot of people even 
     though it killed a lot of people at the time. Every man, 
     woman and child would have been fighting you otherwise. It 
     would have been a bloodbath on both sides.''
       He also recalls the attitude among the soldiers upon 
     receiving the news that the war had ended.
       ``The boozers, they went out and got drunk,'' he said. 
     ``But most of the soldiers just thanked God that it was over. 
     Everybody was glad it was over.''
       Erb kept in contact with several of his fellow soldiers 
     from the war, now good friends although their numbers have 
     dwindled.
       ``I've got a buddy that was one day older than I am and 
     lived in Eugene, Oregon,'' he said. ``I've kept in contact 
     with about 7 or 8 guys, but I think there's only three of us 
     left. I was on the tail end of the war, and I'm 84, so these 
     other guys are getting up in the 90s. This flight that we 
     took up to Washington, D.C., one guy was celebrating his 94th 
     birthday that day.''
       The flight Erb took, the Honor Flight, brought veterans to 
     Washington D.C. where they had a chance to visit monuments, 
     including the WWII memorial.
       ``It was a long day, but it was wonderful,'' he said. ``We 
     all had gold shirts on and these black hats. And when they 
     dumped you out at the memorial, you had 305 guys out there 
     with the gold shirts, and it was really kind of 
     fascinating.''
       Being with other veterans, and seeing the World War II 
     memorial, Erb said was a great experience. In his view, the 
     war was difficult, but necessary.
       ``When you have to protect our country. . . World War II, 
     we didn't have a whole lot of choice,'' he said. ``We had 
     both ends of the world moving in on us.''

  I commend Donald Erb 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.

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