[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 37 (Thursday, February 29, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1059-S1060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



               Bicentennial of Vermillion County, Indiana

  Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, I rise today to salute Vermillion County, 
IN, on the occasion of its bicentennial, which occurred earlier this 
month.
  I begin this tribute thousands of miles and an ocean away from West 
Central Indiana, in Iejima, which is an island off the coast of 
Okinawa. There in Iejima, in a park by the side of a road, stands a 
small monument made of white stone. There is a bronze plaque that is 
placed near its base, and it reads:

       At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy, Ernie 
     Pyle, 18th April 1945.

  They weren't the only ones who lost a friend that day. No other 
writer so vividly captured the experiences of the American soldier or 
better chronicled the war that they fought during World War II than 
Ernie Pyle. The warmth and directness of Ernie Pyle's columns channeled 
the voice of the GI and communicated it clearly to the countrymen back 
home.
  Pyle was by so many accounts America's greatest war correspondent. He 
was a shy farm boy from the town of Dana in Vermillion County. In fact, 
the house he was born in is still there. His writing style reflected 
his upbringing in the warmth of smalltown America and Hoosier common 
sense.
  That monument that I mentioned near the spot he died is just one of 
the incredible things that Vermillion County's people have accomplished 
and how the values instilled there made them possible.
  Now, I will allow that not all Americans have heard of this part of 
Indiana. After all, it is a small spot on the map, bounded to the east 
by the Wabash River--7 miles wide, 37 miles long--home to less than 
16,000 citizens, but as Ernie Pyle's life demonstrates, we are all, 
each and every one of us, better off because of the Hoosiers who have 
called Vermillion County home.
  They have done great things, and they have done them quietly, in and 
far away from their own communities. In fact, when our Union was in 
peril, our freedoms threatened, Vermillion County's residents answered 
the call again and again and again.
  They fought in the siege of Vicksburg, suffered in the misery of 
Andersonville. Their bodies rest far from Vermillion County's Hoosier 
soil. They are in American cemeteries abroad. Their names can be found 
on the tablets of the lost. Their families still hold the Purple Hearts 
and hang the Gold Star banners.
  These Hoosiers have not only defended America, but with their 
industriousness and creativity, they have contributed to all of our 
walks of life.
  The area's first settlers discovered the richness of Vermillion 
County soil. Two centuries later, their descendants still work the 
land. In fact, hundreds of farms--many of them family-owned--help drive 
the local economy and feed our Nation.
  Vermillion County has provided much else, though: leaders--leaders 
who have risen to Indiana's highest offices; but not just leaders--
explorers, actors, athletes, engineers, and, of course, one legendary 
journalist who was the voice of the American soldier and won the 
Pulitzer Prize.
  The rich history of Vermillion County isn't simply characterized by a 
list of outbound citizens, though. It is also characterized by hopeful 
new arrivals.
  At the end of the 19th century, the town of Clinton was a destination 
for Italian immigrants seeking employment in the nearby coal mines. 
They embraced their new home and their country, and they left a legacy 
in Vermillion County that is still visible and recalled every 
September. The Little Italy Festival is a 4-day celebration of 
Clinton's Italian heritage held almost every Labor Day since 1966. It 
is one of the most cherished local traditions.
  With its small towns, their historic buildings, family businesses, 
its beautiful landscapes, and beloved covered bridges, Vermillion 
County is quintessential Indiana and quintessential America. But it is 
the Hoosiers who live there that we can celebrate on this anniversary.
  A story Ernie Pyle recorded from ``good old Dana''--as he put it--
catches their spirit just as clearly as his reports from the front gave 
voice to the GIs. You see, when Pyle's mother suffered a stroke, she 
badly needed a hospital bed. There was only one in the entire county. 
It was the property of a family living 8 miles away. They were happy to 
loan it, but the Pyles had no way to transport their bed to their home. 
When he heard about this dilemma, one Claude Lockeridge, who lived just 
down the road from the Pyles, fired up his old Model T truck and drove 
16 miles in the snow to fetch the bed.
  It is a little gesture of kindness, perhaps, but a million of these 
are what makes America--and I would argue, it is what makes America 
great.
  The occasion of its 200th anniversary is a fitting time not simply to 
honor Vermillion County but to remember--to remember how much our small 
towns and our local communities matter and how essential the decency, 
kindness, and patriotism found in places like Vermillion County is to 
our Republic.
  To the people of Vermillion County, we join you in the celebration of 
your

[[Page S1060]]

bicentennial; we thank you for all you have done for our State and our 
country; and we look forward to the days ahead.
  God bless.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.