[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 182 (Wednesday, November 8, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7103-S7104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Veterans Day

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, this Saturday is Veterans Day, a day when 
we honor the brave women and brave men who have served in the defense 
of this great Nation. We need to take a moment to reflect on the 
freedoms that we enjoy every day--and sometimes take for granted--as 
American citizens, and we need to take that moment to thank those who 
have devoted their lives to serve and protect the greatest Nation in 
human history, the United States of America.
  Mr. President, as you know, our country is home to over 20 million 
veterans, and I have the privilege of representing more than 250,000 
veterans in my State of Louisiana. Today, I would like to talk about 
two of those veterans from my State who are illustrative of the 
extraordinary service that all of the veterans in Louisiana have 
offered their country.
  The two gentlemen I would like to talk about, the two brave 
Americans, are Ira Schilling and Earl Louis Messmer.
  Ira Schilling is from Shreveport. He enlisted in the U.S. Marines 
Corps in October of 1941, at the age of 16. He was 16 years old. After 
completing his training, Ira was assigned as a rifleman to L Company, 
3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, and he took part in 
combat operations on Guadalcanal during the final weeks of that bloody 
campaign.
  Ira was discharged from Active Duty in October 1945. In 1948, Mr. 
Schilling tried to reenlist in the U.S. Marines Corps. He was married 
at the time. The Marines Corps turned down his request. Undaunted, Mr. 
Schilling just went over and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and he spent 
another 2 years on Active Duty in defense of this country. Ira is now 
92 years young, and he lives in Haughton, LA, and he is a Civil Air 
Patrol wing chaplain.
  Mr. Earl Louis Messmer was born in New Orleans, in the southern part 
of my State, in 1923. He is very proud--and we are all proud of him--
for serving in the Battle of Peleliu from September 15 to November 15, 
1944.
  That battle was a fight to capture an airstrip in the Western Pacific 
Ocean. The United States won. We prevailed due to the bravery of the 
Army's 81st Infantry Division, of which Earl was a member.
  Upon his return from World War II, in 1945, Mr. Messmer went to 
Tulane University.
  Earl has 2 daughters, 5 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren,

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all of whom are enjoying the freedom of this country for which he 
fought so gallantly.
  Earl has resided in Metairie, LA, since 1942.
  It is imperative, in my judgment, that this Veterans Day--and every 
day--we honor the service and sacrifices made by our women and our men 
in uniform. That is why I have introduced a bill. It is the 75th 
Anniversary of the End of World War II Commemorative Coin Act. I say to 
the Presiding Officer, I hope you will vote for it. This bill would 
authorize a commemorative coin to mark the milestone anniversary and 
the historic sacrifices of what has been aptly termed ``the Greatest 
Generation,'' and this bill will cost the American taxpayer zero 
dollars.
  Thanks to the selflessness and bravery of 16 million American 
military personnel--brave men and women, brave men like Ira and Earl, 
of whom I just spoke, many of whom have lost their lives in this global 
conflict in World War II--liberty and democracy ultimately prevailed 
against the rawest, ugliest form of tyranny. The least we can do, it 
seems to me, for those who fought for our freedom, is to ensure that 
institutions like the National World War II Museum in New Orleans are 
able to continue their mission to educate future generations about our 
country's role in World War II and to support the families of our 
veterans.
  I would like to urge all of my colleagues to please join with me, as 
I know they will, in thanking the millions of veterans who have fought 
and served our country, and I hope we can all pray together for the 
safety of our brave women and men in uniform who are still serving 
today.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.