[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3350]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO MR. ROY HERBERT NIX

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MARILYN N. MUSGRAVE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 13, 2006

  Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
profound bravery and selfless patriotism of Mr. Roy Herbert Nix. Mr. 
Nix proudly served our Nation in U.S. Army during the tumultuous times 
of the Second World War. The sacrifices he made to ensure the liberty 
and freedom of future generations will never be forgotten.
  Born in the mountains of Northern Georgia, Roy's family later moved 
to Colorado when he was five years old. In 1943, at the age of 19, Mr. 
Nix was drafted into the Army and was assigned to the 112th Infantry. 
From the farms and fields of Colorado, Mr. Nix soon found himself on 
the violent, battle-hardened shores of Normandy following the Allies' 
D-Day invasion of German-occupied France.
  In August 1944, Mr. Nix was captured by German soldiers and became a 
prisoner of war. Mr. Nix and his fellow POWs were forced to march at 
night from Normandy to a camp outside Paris. They were then herded into 
boxcars and transported, under constant threat of strafing by Allied 
aircraft, deep inside German territory. Sixty men where piled into each 
boxcar in which they could neither stand, nor lie down. With the 
exception of two, ten-minute toilet breaks a day, the POWs were forced 
to remain in the squalid boxcars twenty-four hours a day for sixteen 
days.
  For what undoubtedly seemed like an eternity, Mr. Nix was confined to 
a prisoner of war work camp at Moosburg, Germany, at Stalag 7-A. 
Humiliated and near starvation, Mr. Nix and his fellow prisoners were 
forced to fill bomb craters. Working in the nearby forests, the 
prisoners were forced to endure the extreme cold wearing nothing on 
their feet except rags.
  For a time, he was put out on a farm to work. There, a young child 
named Sophie would come talk to him by the barn. In the gravity of the 
moment, even this young girl was scared, because she knew that Roy 
Nix's life could be taken at any time.
  As the war drew to a close and their captors grew desperate, the 
prisoners at Moosburg were forced to march seventy-five kilometers into 
the frigid Alps. Finally, after months of captivity, Mr. Nix's day of 
liberation arrived.
  At this time, his brother Fred who also served in Germany, remained 
with occupation forces. Later, the brothers found out they were in 
close proximity to each other while Roy was in German captivity.
  Mr. Nix returned home to his wife Irene. Though they moved to North 
Carolina, they later moved back to Colorado to raise their children. 
Roy and Irene had twin sons Bruce and Gerald, who were born during his 
captivity. The young couple was also blessed with a beautiful daughter, 
Janet.
  Mr. Nix has lived his life as a hardworking family man who is always 
the first to help those in need. He is a lifelong member of the local 
VFW and the local Baptist Church. His love of family and commitment to 
community confirm Mr. Nix's integrity and character.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to represent Mr. Nix and other men and 
women who have given so much for our freedom. Like so many other 
members of the ``Greatest Generation,'' Mr. Nix set aside his ambitions 
and risked his life for our nation. I urge my colleagues to join me in 
expressing my heartfelt gratitude and sincere appreciation for the 
patriotic service of Mr. Roy Herbert Nix.

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