[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 187 (Thursday, November 21, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1492-E1493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          CELEBRATING THE NAVAL SERVICE OF EDWIN EARL THOMPSON

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BRIAN BABIN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 21, 2019

  Mr. BABIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to thank a great sailor, Chief 
Edwin ``Easy'' Thompson, United States Navy (Retired), for thirty years 
of service as an Engineman Chief Master Diver (Frogman) in the United 
States Navy.
  After enlisting in the Navy in 1944, Thompson served on the hospital 
ship USS Haven (AH-12) and evacuated wounded from the Marshall Islands, 
Guam, and other South Pacific Islands. During World War II, Mr. 
Thompson also served aboard a destroyer minesweeper in the Straits of 
Alaska. Thompson served on many ships during his career, but one of his 
greatest highlights was serving as a Marine Honor Guard when the 
Battleship Texas (BB-35) was turned over to the state of Texas in 1948.
  From 1948 to 1952, Edwin Thompson was stationed on the Battleship 
Missouri (BB-63). On the Missouri, he participated in the battles of 
Inchon and Hungnam during the Korean War. Mr. Thompson has also pointed 
out that he was on the USS Missouri both times she ran aground.
  In the 1950s, Easy joined the Underwater Demolition Team Two, Unit 22 
and served alongside his friend, Michael Murphy who was killed in 
Vietnam during an underwater explosion. Michael Murphy's grandson, Navy 
SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, posthumously received the Congressional 
Medal of Honor for his actions during SEAL Team One's Operation Red 
Wings in Afghanistan.
  On January 17, 1966, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber armed with hydrogen 
bombs collided mid-air with a tanker while refueling over the 
Mediterranean Sea near Palomares, Spain. One hundred tons of flaming 
wreckage was spread over 15 square miles with one of the bombs tumbling 
into the sea. Thankfully, the three other bombs hit the ground and did 
not explode.
  The Chief of Naval Operations created Task Force 65 consisting of 34 
ships, 2,200 sailors,

[[Page E1493]]

130 frogmen (including Chief Edwin Thompson), and 4 miniature 
submarines to recover the warhead from the sea. Secretary of the Navy 
Paul Ignatius later described the successful recovery as ``the largest 
and most difficult deep-sea search ever conducted by any country in the 
world.'' Thompson's team of frogmen recovered the warhead under 2,162 
feet of water just a few feet from edge of a 5,000-foot abyss. The 
recovered warheads were 75 times more powerful that the Atomic Bomb 
dropped on Hiroshima.
  Following his retirement from the Navy, Mr. Thompson continued diving 
and worked for Brown & Root for many years. He also served as a Reserve 
Deputy with the Harris County Precinct Three Constable's Office for 
twenty years. Thompson has served as Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 912 
Commander and is a life-member of several other community 
organizations, including the American Legion and Fleet Reserve 
Association. He is also a member of the Shiners and Freemasons.
  Edwin Thompson was married to Mrs. Margaret Bell Griffin Thompson for 
forty-four years until her death in 1992. Together they have seven 
children: John, Tammy, Lorrie Anne, Mary Frances, Don Marie, Sue Ellen, 
and Margaret. He has 49 grandchildren, and many other great-
grandchildren. The Thompson family has a long history of career 
military service to our country spanning several generations.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Chief Edwin ``Easy'' Thompson, 
as well as his family, for their selfless service to this great nation.

                          ____________________