[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 8, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H7026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING THE LOSS OF BRIGADIER GENERAL CHUCK YEAGER

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I rise to 
recognize the loss of a very great American, Brigadier General Chuck 
Yeager, who passed last evening. He and his wife, Victoria, are 
constituents of ours in Nevada County in our district in northern 
California.
  Truly, he was an American icon. He inspired the world to push farther 
and faster and to push the envelope, as they say, a man I was honored 
to call a friend.
  He grew up in West Virginia, a country boy hunting and fishing the 
hills where he lived. He entered World War II and became one of the 
greatest pilots that we would know. He had an amazing 20/10 vision that 
helped him to see enemy aircraft sooner than the rest of his colleagues 
or the enemy could see ours.
  His exploits in the sky continued after World War II, when he was the 
first man to break the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 aircraft.
  Indeed, he was an amazing gentleman. He was a determined man with a 
lot of grit, provided a lot of help advancing the aviation situation in 
this country, even just a few years ago, exceeding the sound barrier 
once again.
  He had a straight and dry sense of humor. He didn't have a whole lot 
of use for politicians. I was lucky to be able to count him as a 
friend, not as a politician but as more of a neighbor.
  We will grieve this man and we will grieve his loss, because they 
don't make very many like Chuck Yeager. Indeed, he will be 
irreplaceable.
  God bless him and his family.

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