[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 27672-27673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     A SALUTE TO THE WORLD WAR II GENERATION AND ITS CONTRIBUTIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, every day America is losing one of our 
most precious resources. This resource provided our country what it 
needed to overcome the economic calamity of the Great Depression. It 
was a resource that saved the world from the twin threats of Nazism and 
Japanese militarism, and then, when that job was done, turn to 
rebuilding a shattered planet and, when they deserved to let others 
pick up the load, they then went and took on communism, which for 
decades loomed as a threat to democratic government and individual 
rights everywhere.
  I am, of course, talking about a generation, perhaps the greatest 
generation, of Americans, which is now passing from the scene. One year 
ago my father, Donald Rohrabacher, or Lieutenant Colonel USMC retired 
Don Rohrabacher died. Just a short-term ago, a friend of mine, Bob 
Smiley, Robert Smiley, Junior, lost his dad.
  My dad joined the Marines in the Second World War. Robert Smiley, 
Senior, volunteered for the Navy. Later, my father helped develop the 
method of dropping the atomic bomb from a fighter bomber that helped 
change the formula during the Cold War, and helped preserve the peace 
and preserved America's deterrence. Bob Smiley was instrumental in the 
Polaris Submarine program, which also deterred war with the Soviet 
Union. Their technological know-how helped deter war with the Soviet 
Union until communism collapsed under its own weight, under the weight 
of its own contradictions and evil.
  America is losing one thousand of these veterans from World War II 
from the Saving Private Ryan generation every day. They escorted us to 
the doorway of a new millennium. As we enter this new era, which will 
have unimaginable opportunity and prosperity and peace and freedom, let 
us remember the Robert Smileys and the Don Rohrabachers and the men and 
women of their generation for the magnificent gift that they have left 
us.
  Ours would be a far darker and more frightening world if it was not 
for them, if it was not for their service and

[[Page 27673]]

their courage. In the history of America, few generations have carried 
such a heavy burden for as long as they did, or confronted more 
monumental challenges, or gave so much.

                              {time}  1245

  Those truly were great Americans. So let us salute this generation as 
it marches on. Let us keep faith with them by insisting that America 
remain true to its ideals of liberty, justice, and democracy. Our 
greatest tribute to those who saved the world from the Natzis and from 
the Japanese militarists is to keep America the beacon of hope for the 
oppressed, to make sure that Old Glory keeps waiving proud and strong 
over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

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