[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19761]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      IN MEMORY OF CLYDE L. CHOATE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today with great sadness to mark 
the passing of an American hero and an Illinois legend. Clyde Choate 
spent his 81 years in service to his country and to his State, and we 
are fortunate indeed to have known him.
  Clyde Choate was an Illinoisan through and through, born in downstate 
Franklin County and a lifelong resident of nearby Union County. 
Southern Illinois is the heart of coal country, and Clyde came from a 
family for whom mining was both a way of living and a way of life. 
Perhaps we can trace his later ability to stand up for himself as a 
State legislator to the fact that he had 11 brothers and sisters. 
Anyone growing up in a 14-member household would feel right at home in 
a large deliberative body.
  Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Clyde enlisted as a 
private in the U.S. Army and found himself deployed to the European 
theater, where he spent some 31 months. It was there, on the 
battlefields of France, that Staff Sergeant Clyde Choate demonstrated a 
determination and pride that would mark his public service for the rest 
of his life.
  In late October of 1944, the tank destroyer battalion Choate 
commanded was engaged by a German tank and company of infantrymen. With 
his anti-tank weaponry destroyed, Staff Sergeant Choate left a position 
of safety to search for trapped comrades and to chase the enemy tank, 
which was by then moving to attack American troops nearby. Grabbing a 
rocket launcher, Choate singlehandedly attacked the tank, disabling it, 
and then killed its crew with his pistol. He completed destruction of 
the German vehicle while under heavy enemy fire by dropping a grenade 
into the turret. With their firepower rendered useless, the German 
troops retreated, having been turned back solely through the heroic 
actions of Staff Sergeant Clyde Choate.
  In presenting him with the Congressional Medal of Honor, this 
country's highest award, in the East Room of the White House on August 
23, 1945, President Harry Truman noted that ``Staff Sergeant Choate's 
great daring in assaulting an enemy tank single-handed, his 
determination to follow the vehicle after it had passed his position, 
and his skill and crushing thoroughness in the attack prevented the 
enemy from capturing a battalion command post and turned a probable 
defeat into a tactical success.''
  A New York Times story written that day notes that President Truman 
thanked the medal recipients and commented that their ``deeds 
demonstrated that when leadership was required, no matter what the 
emergency, it came to the top through the young men of America.'' How 
true these words ring today when we think about the young men and women 
who are defending our country in the battle against a new and 
frightening enemy.
  Leadership rose to the top through Clyde Choate on a daily basis. His 
political career was born that late summer day in our Nation's capital 
when the young veteran seized his opportunity to lobby at the highest 
level and expressed to President Truman his concerns about the coal 
industry in southern Illinois. Perhaps, President Truman suggested, the 
young Clyde Choate should run for public office. The very next year, 
Clyde was a candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives and 
won. He took up residence in Union County's seat and kept it warm for 
the next 30 years. In that three-decade span, he served as both 
minority and majority leader of the Illinois House many times.
  I remember State Representative Clyde Choate. He was passionately 
committed to southern Illinois but could always find common ground with 
his colleagues from the ethnic neighborhoods of our State's biggest 
cities. His common sense and great sense of humor made him a trusted 
leader and favorite friend of Democrats and Republicans alike. After 
leaving the Illinois General Assembly, Clyde Choate became a strong 
voice for Southern Illinois University.
  Last year when I visited southern Illinois, my friend Clyde Choate 
came to my town meeting. Though illness had dimmed his vision, nothing 
could dim his insight. He pulled me to the side and in his 
characteristic style whispered into my ear about politics, the 
President and our national agenda. His title was gone but his passion 
for the important issues of our time was undiminished.
  Clyde Choate was a soldier for our great nation and a fighter for the 
great State of Illinois. We have benefitted tremendously from his 
dedication, his drive and above all, his leadership. He will be sorely 
missed by the people of Illinois and, most especially, by his neighbors 
and friends in Union County, all of whom he so tirelessly served.

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