[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Page 27292]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       OF DUTY, HONOR AND SERVICE

 Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, in the spring of this year, I had 
the remarkable experience of hosting a recording of a history for the 
Library of Congress Veterans History Project. A distinguished, elderly 
Idahoan recounted his experiences as a supply officer during World War 
II, notably in one of the units that liberated the Nazi concentration 
camp, Dachau.
  Ralph Leseberg is 86 years old and lives in St. Anthony, ID with his 
beloved wife of 66 years, Wanda. Before visiting my office, he returned 
to Dachau, Germany on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the 
camp's liberation by the Americans. After taking part in the 
commemoration ceremony, he stopped in Washington, DC to visit the World 
War II Memorial and pay respects to his fallen comrades.
  Ralph was drafted in 1944 when he was a young married man with three 
children living in Layton, UT. That young man was evident in the 
wizened gentleman who sat in my office some months ago, his experiences 
of those difficult times surprisingly vivid in his blue eyes. He spent 
time in France and then in Germany assigned to the 42nd Quartermaster 
Company of the Army. He remembers the bombings that cleared Wersberg, 
Germany, and bringing in supplies of food, clothing and ammunition for 
the soldiers.
  Clearly, his most difficult time was to come, for it was just months 
later on April 29, 1945, around 6 or 7 p.m. in the evening that his 
company followed the troops into the liberated camps with two 
truckloads of food for the survivors. Up to this point in the 
interview, Ralph had shared his experiences in great detail, telling of 
dates, places and times with remarkable acuity. When asked about what 
he saw that night, Ralph paused for a long minute and said, ``Well, 
it's just something you don't like to talk about.'' At that moment, he 
was thousands of miles and many years away from my office in the 
Dirksen Building. His blue eyes, glinting with the shine of old tears, 
reflected the stark horror of that day, the memory too overwhelming to 
put to words.
  Ralph continued to serve until 1946, when he returned to his wife and 
children and civilian life. Looking back, he said that he remembered 
paying attention to the lifestyle of the people in the countries where 
he served, and remarked that ``We are blessed to be in this nation, a 
nation of human rights and humanitarian service.'' When asked about 
serving his country, Ralph said only this: ``It wasn't easy to leave my 
wife and children, but I served my country when I was called, and I 
knew why I was called.'' I would like to offer my sincere thanks and 
gratitude for Ralph and his family for their sacrifice and service so 
many years ago. It was a tremendous honor for me to have this 
particular member of ``the greatest generation'' in my office that 
day.

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