[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10542]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      COMEMMORATING D-DAY AND HONORING THE VIRGINIA NATIONAL GUARD

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                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 10, 2010

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I was honored on June 5 to join in a salute 
to the Virginia National Guard and the role of its Third Battalion, 
116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division in the D-Day invasion.
  The event was held at the National Guard Armory in Winchester and 
organized by the Honorable Jack Marsh, former Virginia congressman and 
counselor to President Ford, the longest serving secretary of the Army, 
and my long-time friend and mentor. Earlier this year Jack helped draft 
a resolution passed by the Virginia General Assembly which commemorated 
the Virginia National Guard's 29th Division for its part in storming 
Omaha Beach and invading Normandy on D-Day--June 6, 1944.
  On Monday, May 31, Madam Speaker, we observed Memorial Day. We 
honored those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their 
country. I also took time last week to visit Gettysburg where President 
Lincoln so eloquently described that kind of sacrifice in his ringing 
words of the Gettysburg Address: They gave ``the last full measure of 
devotion.''
  As we reflect this week on the 66th anniversary of D-Day, many people 
may not know that the only National Guard Division on the beach at 
Normandy was the 29th Division of Virginia, Maryland and District of 
Columbia National Guard. And only one Regiment of the 29th--Virginia's 
116th Infantry, which includes the 3rd Battalion that calls the 
Winchester Armory home--was selected to be in the first wave at Omaha 
Beach.
  There were 17 Virginia communities in the Infantry units of the 
116th--from Winchester, Berryville and other places stretching up and 
down the Shenandoah Valley. This historic unit is the sixth oldest 
regiment of the Army and its predecessors served under our forebears--
George Washington and Stonewall Jackson--giving it the name: 
``Stonewall Brigade.''
  The soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade stormed the beach with 3,100 
officers and men. They had to cross over 300 yards of sand beach under 
heavy crossfire to reach the shore and fight their way up bluffs that 
towered to 100 feet. By the end of what is known as ``the longest 
day,'' the 116th took over one thousand casualties. Military historians 
call the Omaha battle the most violent of World War II. Only a handful 
of those who crossed the beach, who Tom Brokaw has called, ``the 
Greatest Generation,'' remain.
  Once on shore the mission of the 29th Division was the capture of the 
city of St. Lo, a key transportation hub. It proved to be an arduous 
task. German defenses were formidable. Timetables were disrupted. Mid-
July found the 3rd Battalion 116th Infantry at the edge of St. Lo. It 
had a new commander, Major Tom Howie of Staunton, Virginia, where he 
taught English, and coached football at Staunton Military Academy.
  Howie was from South Carolina and a 1929 graduate of the Citadel 
where he was class president and an all-state half-back. Tom Howie 
became the role model for the character Captain Miller, played by Torn 
Hanks, in the film, ``Saving Private Ryan.''
  The second battalion of the 116th became surrounded near St. Lo. 
Major Howie's 3rd Battalion in a night attack operation broke through 
German lines to relieve the 2nd Battalion. In the morning on July 17, 
Howie and his troops continued the attack on St. Lo. His last words 
were ``see you in St Lo'' before he was killed instantly by German 
mortar fire. Loved and respected by his men, his body was draped in an 
American flag and placed on the hood of a Jeep that led the victorious 
troops into the city. There on a pile of rubble of the Church of St. 
Croix it was placed to honor him.
  A Life magazine photographer happened by, and took the famous 
picture. Because of censorship neither the soldier, nor unit could be 
identified. It was captioned only, ``The Major of St. Lo,'' but it was 
seen round the world. The French have since built a monument to honor 
him. Today there is also a Howie Bell Tower near the Citadel Parade 
Ground at his alma mater.
  When the 29th Division deployed to England in September 1942, Tom 
Howie bid his wife and small daughter Sally, not quite 4-years-old, 
goodbye. They would never see him again. His daughter, now Sally 
McDivitt, age 71, of Culpeper, Virginia, was an honored guest at the 
ceremony in Winchester and unveiled a portrait of her father, which 
will be displayed in a classroom at the armory bearing Major Howie's 
name.
  Madam Speaker, Sally Howie McDivitt is a symbol of the sacrifice made 
by military families, then and now. The 116th made extraordinary 
contributions at Normandy and continues in that sacrifice of service 
today. The spirit of the heroes of D-Day lives on in the men and women 
of the 116th of today. They call the same places in Virginia home and 
show the same dedication and courage by fighting for freedom and 
democracy in places which are continents away.
  This same unit has now served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and 
has lost two members, Staff Sgt. Craig Cherry, 39, of Winchester, and 
Sgt. Bobby Beasley, 36, of Inwood, West Virginia. The Winchester Armory 
now bears their names. I have visited troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
including soldiers from Virginia. They deserve our support and 
gratitude for accepting the same responsibilities and hardship of those 
in the uniform of their country who have gone before them.
  We must always remember that when we send men and women into harm's 
way, their families are also sacrificing for their country. Military 
families, then and now, bear a heavy burden. They have been willing to 
sacrifice their goods, their comforts, their husbands, sons, daughters, 
fathers, and brothers. They are willing, as words of the Declaration of 
Independence state: to pledge their lives, their fortunes and their 
sacred honor for their country.
  In a speech given at Point du Hoc, France, commemorating D-Day in 
1984, President Reagan said:

  ``The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, 
faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would 
grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep 
knowledge--and pray God we have not lost it--that there is a profound 
moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of 
force for conquest.''

  We call on our colleagues and every citizen of America--the land of 
the free and home of the brave--to continue to strengthen the character 
of our nation, which has been built through hardships, and the freedom 
of our nation, which has been ensured through the lives of so many 
before us, including those brave souls from Winchester and the 
Shenandoah Valley who fought their way onto the shores and up the 
bluffs of Omaha Beach.

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