[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 127 (Monday, July 20, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H3097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      PAYING TRIBUTE TO U.S. NAVY COMMANDER WILLIAM ``BILL'' VOGT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Peters) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
extraordinary San Diegan and World War II veteran, U.S. Navy Commander 
William ``Bill'' Vogt. Bill passed away in February, at the age of 107, 
and will be laid to rest at Miramar National Cemetery today.
  Bill served with honor and distinction as an intelligence officer for 
nearly 30 years and was, according to Navy records, the oldest living 
U.S. military officer.
  Bill joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1940 and was called to Active 
Duty on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His 
first assignment was to the District Intelligence Office covering the 
southern coast of California. There, he searched for submarine activity 
and intercepted Nazi mail bound for Mexico and sent summaries of it up 
the chain of command.
  He served in Guam, where he headed an operation that led to the 
surrender of the last two Japanese army holdouts, who had hidden in the 
jungles there since the U.S. landings in 1944.
  Later, Bill served in the Pentagon as an intelligence watch officer 
during the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1969, during 
his last tour of duty in San Diego, William debriefed sailors of the 
USS Pueblo after they had been held captive in North Korea for 11 
months.
  At one point during his remarkable career, during a time of 
significant labor unrest, Bill was contacted by Roy Cohn, Senator 
Joseph McCarthy's lawyer. Cohn asked Bill to conduct domestic spying in 
support of McCarthy's anti-Communist hearings. Bill viewed the request 
as illegal and refused it, and he refused to turn over the files Cohn 
wanted on the Longshoreman's Union. Then, and until the very end, Bill 
Vogt was a fierce defender of our Constitution.
  Bill was one of the first students to attend San Diego State 
University and lived to be its oldest known graduate. In 1934, he 
completed his degree in commerce.
  The Nation was in the midst of the Great Depression, so Bill set off 
immediately to begin working and so never received his official 
diploma. Eighty-four years after earning it, San Diego State President 
Adela de la Torre presented it to him at the age of 105.
  Bill met his beloved wife, Lillian, in Coronado, and they were 
married for 67 years. He is survived by his son, Bob; his daughter, 
Michelle; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Bob 
described his father as a ``best friend, a hero, and a role model.''
  Bob wrote to me in 2019 and told me his father lived near me and 
wanted to spend some time talking about his country with his 
Congressman and have a drink. It was an honor to spend some time with 
Bill, to raise a glass with this great American.
  Still sharp at 106, with somewhat diminished hearing, I must say, he 
shared stories from his extraordinary military career. He showed me his 
collection of books about history and politics, and he told me of his 
deep concern over the state of our democracy. He urged me to keep 
fighting to protect it and to never give up the fight. He still had 
not.
  Bill Vogt represented the best of San Diego and the best of America. 
On behalf of a grateful Nation, we thank him and wish him and his 
family fair winds and following seas.

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