[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 27 (Friday, February 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO ALABAMA AUTHOR WINSTON GROOM

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                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 18, 2011

  Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Winston Francis 
Groom, a southern gentleman of letters and recipient of the 2011 Harper 
Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer of the Year.
  Winston Groom has brought much credit to our state's literary 
tradition as both a popular novelist and a renowned author of history. 
A native of Mobile and the son of a prominent attorney, Winston Groom 
attended the University of Alabama, where he discovered his true 
passion for writing. Pursing a degree in English, he served as editor 
and contributor to university humor and literary magazines.
  Like many young men of his time, he would take a detour after college 
to serve his country in Vietnam, reaching the rank of Captain in the 
U.S. Army.
  His southern heritage and his war time experiences continue to 
influence both the topics and flavor of his prolific and distinguished 
writing career.
  After his tour of duty in the Vietnam, Winston Groom chose the path 
of a journalist, laboring for a brief time at the Washington Star, 
covering the political and court beat. Encouraged by the newspaper's 
writer-in-residence, Willie Morris, Mr. Groom relocated to New York to 
make his name in literature.
  After publishing his first novel, Better Times. Than These, in 1978, 
he followed with As Summers Die, in 1980. In 1983, he co-authored with 
Duncan Spencer Conversations with the Enemy: The Story of PFC Robert 
Garwood. One year later he published the novel, Only.
  His best known work would be published in 1986, but most of the world 
would not hear about it until eight years later when Hollywood adapted 
it to the silver screen. After the movie's 1994 release, Mr. Groom's 
novel, Forrest Gump, sold well over 2.5 million copies and occupied a 
spot on the New York Times bestseller list for 21 weeks.
  The author of 14 books so far, Mr. Groom's other works include Gone 
the Sun, 1988; Gumpisms: The Wit and Wisdom of Forrest Gump; and, The 
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Cookbook, both in 1994; Gump & Co. in 1995; 
Forrest Gump: My Favorite Chocolate Recipes: Mama's Fudge, Cookies, 
Cakes and Candies, also in 1995. Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to 
Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War was also published 
in 1995. Such a Pretty Girl, published in 1999, was followed by The 
Crimson Tide: An Illustrated History of Football at the University of 
Alabama, in 2000.
  His more recent works include A Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient, 
1914-1918, in 2002; 1942, The Year That Tried Men's Souls, in 2005; and 
Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New 
Orleans, in 2007. His latest work, Vicksburg 1863, was published in 
2009.
  On behalf of the people of Alabama, I wish to congratulate Mr. Groom 
on the receipt of the 2011 Harper Lee Award, and I join in thanking him 
for his continued contributions as a great American writer, and wish 
all the best to him and his lovely wife, Anne-Clinton, and their 
daughter, Carolina.

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