[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO PEARSON RIDDLE, JR.

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a great North 
Carolinian, courageous veteran, and the last living survivor of the 
Battle of Wake Island: Pearson Riddle, Jr.
  Born in Pensacola, NC, on October 15, 1921, Pearson joined the 
Civilian Conservation Corps at 18 years old upon completing high 
school. After spending time in Oregon and California learning to 
operate heavy machinery, he was sent to Hawaii to work for the U.S. 
Navy and later joined the Wake Island workforce in August 1941 as a 
general laborer, providing essential support services to U.S. Armed 
Forces.
  On December 8, 1941, Japanese forces commenced a successful siege of 
Wake Island despite the valiant efforts of marines, sailors, soldiers, 
and civilians. Pearson was among the hundreds of civilian contractors 
captured by Japanese forces on December 23, 1941. Forty-four months of 
grueling captivity and infamous brutality followed.
  Pearson was kept on Wake Island until early 1942, when the Japanese 
forced POWs to board the Nitta Maru, which was destined for a prison 
camp in Woosun, China. After spending 19 months there in forced labor, 
the Japanese shipped Pearson and hundreds of other POWs to Kobe, Japan, 
and again to Tokyo where he was imprisoned until a May 1945 Allied 
bombing destroyed the prison camp. Sent north to Sendai 7-B Hanaoka 
after the successful Allied bombing, Pearson and the remaining POWs 
were liberated in September 1945.
  Malnourished, ill, and abused, it took Pearson 2 years to make a full 
recovery, and despite lifelong medical complications from his 
imprisonment, Pearson never stopped serving. After his service, Pearson 
went on to build bases around the world, including in north Africa and 
Iceland.
  In 1987, the Navy administratively awarded Pearson the rank of E-4 
and evaluated him as a 100 percent wartime service-connected disabled 
veteran. Seventy-seven years after his liberation, Pearson received the 
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and 
American Campaign Medal for his heroic devotion to duty.
  Today, we honor Pearson Riddle, Jr.'s valor, service, and commitment 
to the values and principles of the United States of America. I ask my 
fellow Senators to join me in saluting Pearson Riddle for his service.

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