[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 13, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H6873-H6874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1130
 HONORING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL (RET.) FRANCIS D. 
                               FAULCONER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Barr) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a proud Kentuckian, a 
great American patriot, and my great-uncle, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) 
Francis D. Faulconer, who passed away on October 19 at the age of 100.
  My grandfather's younger brother was better known to many of us in 
central Kentucky as Fearless Frank Faulconer, the first weatherman for 
WKYT, later WTVQ, and finally WKQQ, where he delivered for us the 
weekly ``Fearless Frank's Five Day Forecast.''
  What many don't know, however, is that before he became our 
weatherman, Frank had a distinguished military career.
  After graduation from Lafayette High School in 1941, he enlisted in 
the United States Army in 1943 and took basic training at Camp Crowder, 
Missouri, a signal training facility. Overseas in Europe in 1944, 
Faulconer was transferred to the Liaison G3 Section of the First United 
States Army. In this capacity, he traveled with Combat Command A of the 
3rd Armored ``Spearhead'' Division from Meaux, France, to Roetgen, 
Germany.
  Service in the European theater of operation earned him five Bronze 
Stars for his service in Normandy, northern France, Rhineland, Central 
Europe, and the Ardennes.
  Additionally, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for 
helping to escort the reserve elements of the combat command at night, 
from the rear to the forward elements of the battle line.

[[Page H6874]]

  I will always remember my uncle telling me about tearing down Nazi 
swastikas from the churches along the battlefront so that American 
flags could signal the path of liberation.
  Frank has now taken his rightful place in Heaven and in the history 
books, chronicling the story of American freedom alongside his beloved 
brother, my grandfather, Major General J. B. Faulconer, Army veteran of 
the Pacific theater, with the millions of other heroes of the Greatest 
Generation.
  God bless all these heroes. We thank them for their service and for 
serving as a continual and powerful reminder to all of us that freedom 
requires sacrifice. It must be fought for.
  May their example, the example of the Greatest Generation, always 
inspire us to continually fight for freedom and democracy.

                          ____________________