[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 91 (Thursday, June 12, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3655-S3656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO ROBERT L. WILLIAMS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, for several years now I have had the 
distinct pleasure of knowing Robert L. ``Bob'' Williams. Bob hails from 
Independence, KY, and is a member of our Nation's Greatest Generation. 
Like so many in that generation, he answered the call of duty and 
fought valiantly in the Second World War. I rise today to honor his 
service to this country.
  Early on the morning of June 6, 1941, Bob was among the first Allied 
paratroopers dropped into Normandy as a part of Operation Overlord, on 
the historic day of D-day. Several hours later, the largest amphibious 
assault in the history of war would commence. For the time being, 
however, Bob and his fellow paratroopers fought behind enemy lines, 
securing the roads and bridges that were vital to the operation's 
success. You could say that these men constituted the tip of the 
sharpest sword this Nation has ever thrust into battle.
  The airborne soldiers' mission that day was extremely dangerous--
simply making it to the battlefield through the barrage of German anti-
aircraft fire was a feat in itself--yet Bob displayed remarkable 
courage under fire. Upon landing, an enemy machine-gunner placed 12 
bullet holes in his baggy pants pockets. Undeterred, Bob continued to 
fight that day, and for 10 more days until he was seriously wounded on 
June 16.
  Since the war's conclusion, Bob has done his part to keep alive the 
memory of those who served. On the 50th anniversary of the D-day 
invasion, he joined 18 fellow veterans in re-creating their parachute 
jump into Normandy. He has also written a book containing his, and 
other veterans' stories from the war. Most recently, Bob was honored to 
be inducted into the Kentucky Veterans Hall of Fame in March of this 
year.
  As the Second World War drifts further and further into the past, it 
becomes increasingly important that we remember the sacrifices made to 
secure victory. So today, I ask that my U.S. Senate colleagues join me 
in honoring Robert L. Williams and his service to his country during 
the great battle to make the world safe for democracy that was World 
War II.
  Mr. President, the Lexington Herald-Leader recently published an 
article detailing Bob Williams' and other Kentucky World War II 
veterans' stories

[[Page S3656]]

from the war. I ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the Lexington Herald-Leader, June 5, 2014]

 Veterans from Lexington, Louisville Areas Mark D-day Anniversary This 
                                Weekend

                            (By Jim Warren)

       On D-day morning, 70 years ago Friday, Winchester's Jonah 
     Thomas was an Army combat engineer in one of the first 
     landing craft to hit Omaha Beach.
       German shells obliterated the boat almost the instant it 
     touched the sand.
       ``I didn't see anybody else there when we hit the beach, so 
     maybe they didn't have anybody else to shoot at,'' Thomas 
     recalled. ``They blew that boat to smithereens.''
       A soldier in front of Thomas was struck in the face. Thomas 
     was covered with his blood.
       ``I would have been hit if he hadn't been there,'' Thomas 
     said. ``There were 44 men crammed in that boat, and hardly 
     anybody survived.''
       Thomas, now 89, was one of the few who did.
       He'll be among about 80 veterans from the Lexington and 
     Louisville areas who are flying to Washington early Friday, 
     the 70th anniversary of D-day. They'll visit the Korean War 
     Veterans Memorial, the Iwo Jima Monument, and the National 
     World War II Memorial before returning Friday evening. A 
     public welcome is planned at Blue Grass Airport when they 
     return.
       D-day, June 6, 1944, was when roughly 160,000 American, 
     British and other Allied troops stormed into Nazi-held France 
     along a 50-mile stretch of beaches in Normandy.
       It was one of history's biggest military operations. More 
     than 5,000 ships and 11,000 planes supported the landings, 
     which launched the final campaigns that ended World War II in 
     Europe in May 1945.
       Within five days after D-day, more than 300,000 soldiers, 
     54,000 vehicles and 104,000 tons of supplies had come ashore.
       But for the first few hours, the D-day invaders struggled 
     just to survive a wave of bullets and shells from German 
     guns. About 12,000 Allied soldiers were killed, wounded or 
     captured, including roughly 6,000 Americans.
       London's Owen Edwards, then 18, was a Navy coxswain, 
     steering one of the landing boats headed for Omaha. His job--
     delivering a 20-man medical team to the beach--looked 
     impossible.
       ``Eighty-eight millimeter shells were hitting so close they 
     were throwing water into the boat,'' Edwards remembers. ``It 
     was so intense, that I finally turned the boat toward another 
     part of the beach where the shelling wasn't as heavy. I 
     probably wouldn't have made it if I hadn't done that.''
       Edwards, now 88, is another veteran who'll be making the 
     trip to Washington Friday. He eventually landed the medical 
     team safely on Omaha, one of two runs he made to the beach 
     that day.
       ``It was complete chaos,'' Thomas said. ``There were bodies 
     everywhere, wrecked equipment, tanks that never made it, 
     soldiers that drowned going in. It's a miracle that we took 
     that beach.''
       Thomas visited Omaha Beach in 1993, and stood on the spot 
     where he landed his boat.
       ``The beach was so quiet and peaceful then, but I could 
     visualize what it was like on June 6, 1944,'' he said. ``It 
     was pretty emotional.''
       The French invited Robert L. Williams to visit Normandy for 
     the 70th D-day anniversary. But Williams, 91, decided to stay 
     home in Kenton County.
       ``I'm getting too old for nine hours on an airplane,'' he 
     said. ``Besides, I've been there and done that.''
       Williams, a 101st Airborne Division paratrooper, had one of 
     D-day's most dangerous jobs. He was among about 13,000 Allied 
     paratroopers who parachuted into Normandy to seize and hold 
     strategic roads and bridges before the invasion.
       Williams survived days of heavy fighting in Normandy, but 
     was seriously wounded on June 16, 1944.
       Fifty years later, he helped organize a re-creation of the 
     original parachute jump for the 50th D-day anniversary on 
     June 6, 1994. Williams and 18 other original D-day 
     paratroopers parachuted into Normandy from a World War II era 
     C-47.
       ``The government said, `There's no way we're going to let 
     you do that, you're all too old,' '' Williams recalls. ``We 
     did it anyway.''
       He says the 1994 jump was one of the most satisfying things 
     he's ever done.
       ``People were beginning to forget about World War II back 
     then,'' Williams said. ``I think that jump kind of brought it 
     all back. To me, it was more exciting than D-day.''
       The boat carrying Lexington infantryman John A. Palumbo was 
     blown out of the water 100 yards off Omaha Beach on D-day. It 
     was his first taste of combat.
       Palumbo splashed shore. But a bullet destroyed his BAR 
     light machine gun and left shrapnel in his right arm.
       Eventually, he hooked up with some more experienced 
     soldiers, helped them get through a minefield, and found 
     cover on a bluff behind the beach. He never fired a shot on 
     D-day, but saw much heavy fighting later.
       Palumbo, now 93, landed on a sector of Omaha Beach code-
     named ``Easy Red.''
       ``There was nothing easy about what we went through 
     there,'' he recalls. ``No one on that beach was rear-echelon. 
     Everybody was a front-line soldier on D-day. Period.''
       Palumbo often says that every day of his life since D-day 
     has been a bonus, because he didn't expect to survive.
       ``I'm glad I went through it,'' he said, ``rather than 
     having any of my heirs go through it.''
       Ray Swafford, now 88, of Manchester, was a sailor on the 
     minesweeper YMS-247, destroying underwater mines to clear a 
     safe path for ships taking troops to Normandy.
       It was dangerous work. The night before D-day, another 
     minesweeper hit a mine and exploded.
       ``We had to leave the survivors in the water, and that hurt 
     real bad,'' Swafford remembers.
       After clearing mines, Swafford's ship spent D-day guiding 
     landing craft toward shore, picking up survivors, even trying 
     to draw German gunfire away from soldiers on the beach. They 
     also went to assist the destroyer USS Corry, which was 
     sinking.
       But Swafford was most unnerved by German ``E-boats,'' small 
     fast craft that fired torpedoes.
       ``We couldn't shoot back at them because we might hit our 
     own ships,'' he said. ``Those torpedoes still bother me 
     today. I really don't like to think about it.''
       Swafford isn't going on Friday's Washington trip, but he 
     said he might mark the 70th anniversary by cooking out with 
     some friends.
       ``The captain of my ship stopped here to visit me once 
     about 20 years ago,'' Swafford said. ``He asked what I 
     thought about D-day, and I said, `It seems like a bad dream.' 
     ''
       ``He said, `That's the way it seems to me too.'''

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