[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 206 (Monday, December 7, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H6861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING THE LIFE OF GEORGE YUREK

  (Mr. CARTWRIGHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Speaker, as we mark today, the 79th year since 
Pearl Harbor, I want to tell you about my friend, George Yurek, who, 
when he got into the Army in 1942, volunteered for bomb disposal. He 
went to Corregidor, ``The Rock'' of the Philippines.
  His unit was in the first amphibious wave on the island. There were 
so many landmines there that, with U.S. troops amassing for landing, 
they had very little time. They had to defuse the landmines by hand, 
and they called for volunteers.
  Sergeant George Yurek of West Wyoming, Pennsylvania, volunteered to 
defuse landmines by hand, and he defused hundreds of them. It is 
impossible to count how many American troops he saved by his actions.
  For his heroism in the Pacific, George Yurek was awarded a total of 
four Bronze Stars for valor.
  Last week, at the age of 98, George passed away, after mentoring 
countless young people in all the Wyoming Valley.
  George and his late wife, Ellie, were married for 67 years. They 
leave three children, Greg, George, and Ann, and seven grandchildren.
  May God rest his soul.

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