[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 93 (Monday, June 13, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S3823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING ROLAND ``KEN'' TOWERY

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, today I would like to pay tribute to a 
great American veteran, public servant, leader, and Texan, Mr. Roland 
``Ken'' Towery. Ken passed away on May 4, 2016, at the age of 93. Ken 
personified integrity, sacrifice, and hard work as a member of the 
Greatest Generation. He will be sorely missed by the family he leaves 
behind, those whose lives he touched, and a grateful Nation.
  Ken was born in 1923 in Smithville, MS, but quickly moved to Texas a 
year later. Ken grew up on his family's farm in Willacy County. When 
Ken was 14, they moved to farm land on the Medina River near San 
Antonio. The day Ken turned 18, he enlisted in the Army. He was later 
asked about why he enlisted, and he said, ``I wanted to see the world 
and signed up asking for service as far away from home as the Army 
could send me.'' A few short months later, Ken sailed to the 
Philippines on the USS Republic. He received basic and advanced 
individual training on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay; he served as a 
crew member for the 75mm antiaircraft guns with Battery C, 60th Coast 
Artillery.
  In the initial months of America's involvement in World War II, the 
60th Coast Artillery joined with the 59th Coast Artillery to defend the 
Bataan Peninsula, blocking the Japanese Navy from Manila Bay. Ken and 
his fellow soldiers fought gallantly; many, including Ken, were awarded 
the Purple Heart for injuries received in defense of the island. In May 
of 1942, the island fell to the Japanese, and Ken was captured.
  For the duration of World War II, Ken was a prisoner of war in 
Manchuria. As a POW, he worked in the MKK factory making equipment to 
be exported. Ken eventually acquired an extra duty serving prisoners 
their meals, more commonly referred to as ``slop,'' filling a role 
referred to as the ``chow dipper.'' Serving as a chow dipper was often 
a short-lived and precarious position because they were subject to 
fights and disagreements from prisoners who were unhappy about their 
meager rations. This changed when Ken became the chow dipper. He 
employed the lesson that his parents taught him to ``do unto others.'' 
He remedied disagreements by first filling his own bowl and placing it 
beside the serving bucket. Any man who was unsatisfied with his serving 
was invited to replace his serving with Ken's. This small action 
demonstrated Ken's dedication to fairness and firmly established his 
role as a leader amongst his fellow prisoners.
  In 1945, Ken returned home, where he faced a steep recovery from 
multiple parasitic diseases common amongst former prisoners of war. 
Additionally, Ken returned with a serious case of tuberculosis, which 
forced him to spend the bulk of the next decade in isolation wards of 
TB sanitariums. As he battled TB, Ken studied at Southwest Texas Junior 
College and was later admitted to Texas A&M University to study soil 
biology. It was during this time that Ken met his future wife, Louise 
Ida Cook, from Knippa, TX.
  After their wedding, Ken continued college until another bout with 
tuberculosis occurred and ended his formal education. After his 
hospitalization, Ken cleaned poultry houses to make a living. In 1950, 
the Cuero Record, Ken's local newspaper, announced they were looking 
for a reporter. Ken applied for the position but lacked one critical 
skill: the ability to use a typewriter. Louise taught Ken to type, 
helping him to land the job.
  Ken's hard work led him to investigate allegations regarding 
businessmen who were abusing the State's veteran's land program and 
State officials who chose to ignore the issue. This later became known 
as the Veteran's Land Scandal. As a result of his research and 
reporting, 20 people were indicted, and the Texas land commissioner was 
removed from office and imprisoned. In 1955, Ken was awarded the 
Pulitzer Prize for his work.
  Soon after, Ken, Louise, and their two children moved to Austin, 
where Ken worked as a political reporter for the Austin American 
Statesman. His insight into politics was noticed by recently elected 
U.S. Senator John Tower, who asked Ken to serve as his press secretary. 
He quickly climbed the ladder and became Senator Tower's chief of 
staff.
  After leaving Tower's staff, Ken remained influential in Republican 
politics for more than 20 years, during which time he managed several 
reelection campaigns, including Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign in Texas.
  Ken's political impacts extended beyond the United States. He also 
served the U.S. Information Agency as deputy director and assistant 
director. While there, he played a major behind-the-scenes role in the 
fight against communism and the demise of the Soviet Union. He said the 
years spent at USIA ``were among the most gratifying `employed' years 
of my life . . . I could go home at night feeling like I had struck a 
blow for liberty, for mankind . . . There was the feeling that our 
labors were directed towards the interest of the nation as a whole.''
  Ken then returned to Texas, where he started a political consulting 
business in 1976. In 1981, President Regan appointed him to the board 
of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and he served 
as the elected chairman of the board twice. Ken eventually returned to 
the newspaper business in the 1990s when he purchased three small town 
publications: The Floyd County Hesperian, the Lockney Beacon, and the 
Crosby County News-Chronicle.
  Of all his many accomplishments, this humble man will rest in the 
Texas State Cemetery beneath the headstone that reads ``The Chow 
Dipper.'' Ken Towery's story of perseverance, work ethic, and fortitude 
should inspire us all. I offer my thanks and appreciation to this great 
and humble man who epitomizes the American spirit.

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