[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 51 (Friday, April 8, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              IN HONOR OF 1ST LIEUTENANT ROYAL A. STRATTON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 8, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of World War II 
rescue pilot, 1st Lieutenant Royal A. Stratton, who died on May 29, 
1945, after being mortally wounded while saving 9 crewmembers from a 
downed B-29. Royal hailed from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. His love of 
flying led to his enlistment in the Army Air Corps where he excelled to 
become one of only a few pilots to wear both Army and Navy wings.
  Royal joined the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron and with his crew of 
six, would fly off of Iwo Jima and police flight paths searching for B-
29 bombers in jeopardy. On the 29th of May, 1945, Royal spotted the 
crew from a downed B-29 from the 444th Bomb Group, 676th Squadron 
stationed at Tinian. After landing and taking on the survivors, tragedy 
struck during take off when a swell broke over Royal's PBY Catalina and 
tore one propeller off, killing him. The entire contingent of 
servicemen on Royal's plane that day survived the incident and were 
picked up by the Lifeguard Submarine, USS Tigrone. On May 30, 1945, 
Royal A. Stratton was commissioned to the sea. By the end of the war, 
the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron had amassed over 650 rescues and 
Royal Stratton was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Royal A. 
Stratton for his selflessness and valor, for putting others before 
himself in his service of saving the lives of his fellow servicemen.

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