[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING JOHN CARDINALLI

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIMMY PANETTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 31, 2017

  Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a lifelong member of 
the Central Coast community, World War II veteran and member of the 
Office of Strategic Services, John Cardinalli. Mr. Cardinalli grew up 
on the Monterey Peninsula speaking Italian to a family of commercial 
fishermen. Drafted into the Army in 1942, he began his service to the 
United States at the Presidio of Monterey where he completed Army basic 
training. He was qualified as a Morse code expert and was sent to the 
Signal Corps. At Fort Bragg, he responded to a call for volunteers who 
were proficient in Morse code and a second language. Mr. Cardinalli 
responded and would find himself swearing a 65-year oath of secrecy to 
the Office of Strategic Services.
   During his time in the OSS, he became proficient in collecting 
clandestine information about Axis forces. He was primarily stationed 
in the Netherlands, where he worked with members of the Dutch 
underground to ship weapons, ammunition and supplies to Allied forces. 
He volunteered to escort a Polish spy across the River Rhine in the 
cover of darkness, which was instrumental towards obtaining information 
about German defenses. He also participated in the Battle of the Bulge, 
the last German offensive on the Western Front in Belgium and 
Luxembourg. Mr. Cardinalli served in our intelligence community before 
the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency, paving the road for 
future intelligence analysts and operatives.
   After World War II, he returned to the Monterey Peninsula and was a 
sardine fisherman for 25 years. He raised a family along with his wife 
of 70 years, Josephine. In 2008, he was allowed to tell his story of 
service in the OSS. Mr. Cardinalli's service to the nation as a member 
of the OSS became fundamental towards the creation of the Central 
Intelligence Agency. Current and future analysts and officers within 
the CIA and our nation's seventeen intelligence communities have many 
individuals to look up to, and John Cardinalli is certainly one of 
them. Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring and commending John 
Cardinalli for his many years of service, devotion, and contributions 
to our nation.

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