[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF U.S. ARMY MASTER SERGEANT, LOUIS GRAZIANO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ERIC BURLISON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 26, 2023

  Mr. BURLISON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the World War II 
achievements of U.S. Army Master Sergeant, Retired, Louis Graziano who 
is celebrating his 100th birthday this year.
  Mr. Graziano joined the U.S. Army in January 1943. After his basic 
training, he made the Atlantic crossing to the United Kingdom on the 
Queen Mary with 16,000 other American troops. A major storm hit during 
the crossing and nearly capsized the ship about 700 miles off the coast 
of Scotland. Once safely ashore, he boarded a train for Camp Weston in 
Crewe, England, where he was placed in Headquarters OISE Section 
Command Z to continue his combat training. While there, he was 
approached by a general who sent him to London on a special mission for 
the Army. To this day, Mr. Graziano has not revealed the contents of 
this classified mission to anyone.
  Returning from London after six weeks, Mr. Graziano was made a 
Utilities-NCO Sergeant overseeing 35 men who were tasked with erecting 
accommodations for the large number of arriving troops. This effort 
earned him the nickname, the ``Mayor of Tent City.''
  Mr. Graziano's next assignment was to travel 700 miles south to board 
landing ships that would take him and his fellow soldiers across the 
English Channel for a coming invasion. Little did Mr. Graziano know 
that he would be landing in the third wave on Omaha Beach in Normandy, 
as part of history's largest seaborn invasion. Facing machine gun fire 
as he drove his gasoline truck off the LST, he and those with him 
scrambled to the limited safety of a cliff, only to take fire from 
German troops from a cliff-side bunker. Mr. Graziano smartly grabbed a 
flamethrower and set fire to the grass under the bunker forcing the 
Germans out of its protection.
  Mr. Graziano later suffered severe frostbite during the Battle of the 
Bulge and spent three weeks recovering in an infirmary avoiding the 
amputation of both feet. Mr. Graziano subsequently landed in France 
where his unit set up Special Headquarters Command in Reims, where he 
oversaw maintenance of all the facilities. While there, he was 
privileged to witness the historic occasion of Germany's unconditional 
surrender in Europe, signing the German Instrument of Surrender at 
General Eisenhower's Headquarters on May 7, 1945.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate Master Sergeant Graziano, a brave 
hero and a great American, for his commitment to freedom. Without brave 
men like him, our world would look much different today. Please join me 
in thanking him for his brave contributions to America.

                          ____________________