[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3829]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  COLONEL SAM JOHNSON, PRISONER OF WAR

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, the date: February 12, 1973, 36 
years ago this day, when a tall, lean, underfed POW boldly boarded a C-
141 transport plane with a tin can in his hand flying from Vietnam back 
home to America. His name? Colonel Sam Johnson, now a Member of this 
United States House of Representatives, from Texas.
  Sam Johnson was a fighter pilot, flew 62 missions in Korea, and on 
his 25th mission in Vietnam he was shot down. He landed in a rice 
paddy, was captured by the North Vietnamese, and for 7 years was a 
prisoner of war. He was tortured, beaten, but never broken. He did have 
a broken arm, and his other arm was useless. April 16, 1966 is when he 
began his 7 years of confinement. But today is his 36th anniversary 
from his 7 years in a POW camp. He served in a cell the size of a tomb 
with that tin cup and polluted rice, and sometimes a rat would come by.
  Madam Speaker, we want all of America's sons to grow up to have the 
character of Colonel Sam Johnson. We thank Sam Johnson for his 7 years 
of service in a POW camp. We thank all the Americans that served in 
those POW camps--those that survived and came home, and those that did 
not.
  And that's just the way it is.

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