[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 12, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING FRANK J. LEMKE AND OTHERS WHO VOLUNTEERED FOR PROJECT 19

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                           HON. BRIAN HIGGINS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 12, 2018

  Mr. HIGGINS of New York. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the life 
of Frank J. Lemke and many others from my district and around the 
country who volunteered to participate in Project 19, a secret program 
to aid the Allied Forces during World War II.
  Mr. Lemke was born in Buffalo, attended St. Mary's School, and later 
attended Technical High School. After graduating, he was a machinist 
for the Airplane Division of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in 
Cheektowaga producing P-40 fighter planes. At this time, the U.S. had 
not formally entered World War II so American troops could not be sent 
to the battlefields. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great 
Britain, requested help from the U.S. because the British Royal Air 
Force's planes were being shot down much faster than they could be 
repaired in North Africa. There was a great need for a repair base in 
that region to continue the strong attack against the Nazis. At a 
meeting of the nation's top U.S. airplane manufacturing centers, 
President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Project 19 to respond to 
this great need overseas and the Douglas Aircraft Company was selected 
to manage this project.
  Frank J. Lemke, and many other employees from the Curtiss-Wright 
Corporation in Cheektowaga volunteered to go on this 18-month mission 
to Africa. In total there were over 2,000 volunteers across the 
country. In the middle of the night Frank and many others crammed into 
a World War I troop ship and took a 50-day trip to an abandoned Italian 
air force base in Gura, located in the hills of North Africa. Their 
mission was to repair aircraft so that they would be battle ready once 
again and to assemble new aircraft.
  After the Germans were defeated in Africa, Project 19 was officially 
closed. American civilians had the choice of enlisting or returning to 
the U.S. and Frank decided to return home. In the Winter of 1943 Frank 
was on a freighter returning to the U.S. when the ship that he was on 
was torpedoed off the coast of South Africa. He was later picked up 
near Sao Paulo, Brazil, after 42 days in a 22-foot lifeboat with 25 
crew members. He finally arrived back to Buffalo, NY where he became a 
hydraulics instructor at Curtiss-Wright's airport plant. Unfortunately, 
Frank Lemke passed away on July 16, 1955, but his memory lives on in my 
district.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for allowing me to recognize Frank J. Lemke 
and many others who participated in Project 19. It is important to 
recognize Frank and other civilian heroes who have contributed to the 
preservation of freedom in this great country. It is an honor to 
recognize these heroes who not only helped my district, but the Allied 
Forces win the war.

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