[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  A TRIBUTE TO CHAPTER 571 OF THE VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA ON THE 
        OCCASION OF THE DEDICATION OF THEIR MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 2002

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity on Memorial Day 2002 to 
attend an extremely moving and inspirational event in my congressional 
district.
  On that day, in the small town of Hermansville in Michigan's Upper 
Peninsula, members of Chapter 571 of the Vietnam Veterans of America 
dedicated the Thomas St. Onge Vietnam Veterans Museum and Memorial.
  Creating this museum and memorial has been a project based on love, 
dedication and pride. You might even say, Mr. Speaker, that this museum 
is a structure built literally on donations, because the land for the 
museum itself was donated by local residents Richard and Anne 
Lungerhausen, and planning was done in the clubhouse, a structure 
donated by Wells Fargo.
  I said this was a project based on love. Tommy St. Onge was killed in 
1969 in the bitter fighting in the A Shau valley, a battle for control 
of the northern highlands of South Vietnam. Tommy's death was one of 
many tragedies recounted in the book Hamburger Hill by Samuel Zaffiri. 
Although he died more than three decades ago, Tommy is remembered with 
love by his peers. Love and fellowship permeate this project, Mr. 
Speaker. The dedication ceremony booklet quotes Major Michael 
O'Donnell, himself a Vietnam casualty, who wrote lines that are so well 
known to Vietnam veterans, ``Be not ashamed to say you loved them, 
though you may or may not have always. Take what they have left and 
what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.''
  This museum does just that, Mr. Speaker. It takes those things ``they 
have left,'' as Major O'Donnell said--including artifacts as large as a 
Bell U-H1 ``Huey'' helicopter and an M-60 Main Battle Tank--and it uses 
them to teach new generations.
  And what does this museum teach about the Vietnam War, and the men 
and women who served and died there? The 34 members of Chapter 571 have 
this to say about the mission and goal of their museum and memorial: 
``Our wish is for all people to remember them as they were, forever 
young, husbands, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and friends. We 
hope to educate the public, especially those who were too young to 
understand what this war was all about.''
  History has yet to truly judge this war, Mr. Speaker, but we know 
there are lessons to be learned right now. The single greatest lesson 
we can teach our children is that it was not for lack of dedication, 
faith, patriotism, comradeship or discipline on the part of the 
American soldier, sailor or airman that South Vietnam ultimately fell 
to the North Vietnamese army. Our fighting men and women, who were 
sometimes savagely and terribly treated by opponents of the war at 
home, went to Vietnam in answer to the call to duty. There they 
suffered grievous wounds, the loss of comrades, and sometimes the loss 
of faith and idealism, but they answered the call to duty! In the 
history of America's wars, here has been no higher honor gained, nor 
greater sacrifice made, than that of the veterans of our war in 
Vietnam!
  In the small town of Hermansville in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the 
members of Chapter 571 of the Vietnam Veterans of America and their 
families and other club members have worked since 1996, donating 
thousands of hours and thousands of their own dollars in pursuit of the 
dream of celebrating this honor and sacrifice. Their dream is not 
complete, Mr. Speaker. Jerry Ayotte, the chapter's president, described 
for me the concept of a museum that will one day have a rotunda with 
four wings to include personal mementos and military memorabilia from 
World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
  I encourage you and all our colleagues to visit this museum, Mr. 
Speaker. It's located at N 16462 Linden Street, and, until a regular 
staff can be hired, it's open only on Sunday afternoons, when two 
volunteers are available. Hermansville is a small town, but it was 
small towns like this across America that supplied our heroes in 
Vietnam, and that continue to support our military with their taxes 
and--the greatest sacrifice--with their own sons and daughters.
  When you are there, you can meet and thank--as I have had a chance to 
meet and thank--the members of Chapter 571 for their efforts to keep 
alive both the memories of fallen comrades and the conviction that 
these comrades did not fall in vain, because they offered their lives 
in the belief that they fought for America's greatest ideals of 
freedom.
  Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 571 and their spouses are: 
Richard Adams and his wife Ann, Peter and Karen Anderla, Ronald and 
Debbie Augustine, Gerald and Patti Ayotte, Calvin and Cindy Baird, 
Roger Clark, Edward J. Donahue, Darryl D. and Gretchen Fossen, William 
N. Isetts, Robert and Cathy Laroche, Bernard E. and Brenda Loukkala, 
Russell Peters, Dale I. and Sharon Peterson, Dennis C. and Beth 
Peterson, Edwin L. Plettner, Gary F. Poupore, Terrance L. Richer, Wayne 
J. and Linda Rochon, Lyle R. and Jo Schoen, Norman J. Schreiner, Louis 
R. Schuette, Roger L. and Priscilla Schuette, Peter Tanguay, Ronald D. 
and Susie Tomasi, Roger J. and Randy Treves, Terreance W. and Rosemary 
Trudell, Donald J. Trulock, Thomas R. and Sally Unger, Paul C. Vinzant, 
James R. and Rebecca Wash, James E. Watson, Edwin R. Whytsell, Edward 
A. and Maryanne Zahn, and Ronald E. Zahn.

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