[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 64 (Thursday, April 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2308-S2309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Tribute to Dimitri Philemonof

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, today I rise, as I like to do at the end 
of the week, to talk about somebody in my State who has made a real big 
difference to Alaska and, in many ways,

[[Page S2309]]

to the country. It is a good opportunity for me to come down on the 
floor and brag a little bit about Alaska, although my State does a 
really good job of selling itself anyway. It is what we refer to in my 
office as the Alaskan of the Week.
  It is a great opportunity to talk about not just the wonderful things 
we have in Alaska--the wonderful mountains, oceans, and how beautiful 
the State is. Right now, the Sun is out again and shining high. The 
snow is melting. The buds are coming out and birds are coming back. It 
is a good opportunity for me to talk not just about the natural wonders 
but the people who make Alaska such a great place.
  While it doesn't get as much attention as it deserves, there is an 
incredibly fascinating and sometimes tragic history of my State. It is 
a good opportunity for me to talk to my colleagues about that and the 
people who have worked hard and have been part of that history and have 
helped to heal some of the scars that have been left from that history.
  Along with talking about the beauty of Alaska every week, we talk 
about someone who has made a difference. This week, I would like to 
recognize Dimitri Philemonof and all the work he has done over the 
decades for his community, for his State, and really for his country.
  Dimitri was born in 1944 to Erena and Isaac Philemonof on the 
breathtaking, beautiful St. George Island, one of the two principal 
islands of the Pribilof Islands in Alaska. Surrounded by the Bering 
Sea, the Pribilofs are about 750 miles from Anchorage and about 500 
miles from the Siberian Coast. The Pribilofs are really one of the 
Wonders of the World, particularly with the nature that is there--
Steller sea lions, walruses, sea otters, and tens of thousands of fur 
seals. Depending on the season, more than 2.5 million seabirds call the 
Pribilof Islands their home. The ``Galapagos of the North,'' it is 
sometimes called because of this teeming wildlife.
  You will also find in the Pribilofs the warmest, most resilient 
people anywhere in the world. The Pribilofs, as well as the entire 
Aleutian Island chain, has a storied and, to be honest, sometimes 
painful history in our country--a history that has shaped Dimitri's 
life.
  First, when Alaska was a colonial possession of Russia, Russian fur 
seekers decimated the Aleut Native populations on these islands through 
warfare, disease, and, yes, even slavery. Then, 75 years after the 
United States purchased Alaska during World War II, Japan invaded and 
occupied Kiska and Attu, the westernmost islands of Alaska's Aleutian 
Island chain. A lot of Americans don't know that American territory was 
invaded and occupied by the Japanese during World War II. It was the 
first time since the War of 1812 that American soil had been occupied 
by an enemy. The Japanese dug in and held these two islands in Alaska 
until mid-1943, when American forces recaptured Kiska and Attu in a 
brutal campaign in the cold of Alaska.
  That campaign to retake Kiska and Attu resulted in the deaths of 
about 1,500 American servicemen. More than 600 were missing, and almost 
3,500 were wounded in action. It was a major battle of World War II. 
Less well known is the impact this conflict had on the Aleut peoples of 
Alaska. As a result of the invasion, nearly 900 Aleut civilian 
residents of the Pribilof Islands and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska 
were relocated to temporary internment camps in Southeast Alaska. Among 
those interned were Dimitri's parents, two of his brothers, and a 
sister who was born in the camp. Dimitri himself jokes and laughs that, 
in his words, he was actually ``conceived'' in the camp.
  The treatment of our American citizens--and these are great American 
citizens. They are patriotic. They serve in the military at higher 
rates than any other ethnic group in the country. The treatment of 
these American citizens in these camps is a dark spot in American 
history that not many Americans are aware of. Camps were basically 
abandoned buildings. The conditions were awful--crowded, unheated, and 
unsanitary. Some even died in the camps as a result of these horrendous 
conditions. These were our citizens in our country.
  Yet, like so many Alaskan Natives who were not treated well by our 
government during this time, Dimitri, nevertheless, signed up when he 
was of age to serve his country in the military. In the 1960s, he 
joined the Army and served in the Pathfinder Detachment at Fort Rucker 
in Alabama. He was an Airborne soldier.
  Eventually, Dimitri made his way back to Alaska. He met his wife 
Victoria and started a family. He is the proud father of five, and he 
began to work at the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. He is now 
the President and CEO of the Association.
  The association has had numerous accomplishments under his 
leadership. Since 1985, it has greatly expanded its programs for the 
people of the Pribilofs and the Aleutians, and its budget has grown 
from about $2.5 million to more than $18 million to fund these 
important service programs under his leadership.
  For years, he did something that was so important that this body was 
involved here in the Senate. He worked closely with Alaska's 
congressional delegation at the time--Senator Ted Stevens, Senator 
Frank Murkowski, and Congressman Don Young--to work on educating the 
Congress and the Senate about this difficult history during World War 
II and to help pass legislation entitled the ``Aleutian and Pribilof 
Islands Restitution Act,'' which compensated surviving Aleut victims of 
the internment camps. Again, American citizens were sent by their 
government during the war to internment camps in Alaska. Not many 
people know that history.
  Dimitri not only knew it, he lived it. His family lived it, but what 
he did was so powerful. He helped heal it. He helped heal it right here 
on the floor of the Senate.
  He then helped pass the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands Restitution 
Trust to oversee money allocated to rebuild some of the buildings and 
houses in this part of Alaska that were destroyed during the war--in 
the fierce battles that raged in my State during World War II that not 
many Americans are aware of.
  That is a great life and service. Dimitri is also an artist helping 
to preserve Alaska Native culture through his beautiful drawings--
particularly of Russian Orthodox Churches in the region--churches he 
has worked tirelessly to maintain throughout Alaska. These are 
beautiful churches. He also does an incredible Elvis Presley 
impersonation.
  He is a man of faith, of perseverance, and kindness. As I have 
mentioned here, and tried to highlight just a little bit of his life, 
he has devoted his whole life to his people, to my State, and to this 
great Nation. In May, he will be recognized by his colleagues for 40 
years of humanitarian service and for helping heal the wounds of this 
country that came about during World War II. We thank him for all he 
has done in his beloved Pribilofs, in Alaska, in America, and on the 
floor of the Senate.
  Dimitri, I want to thank you, once again, and congratulate you on 
being our Alaskan of the Week.