[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10382-10383]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JOE BYKOWSKI

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today I want to take a few minutes to offer 
special congratulations to Joseph ``Joe'' Bykowski, an extraordinary 
young man who has served Massachusetts and the United States in 
remarkable ways.
  After returning home from service in the Iraq war, Joe wanted to give 
something back to his fellow veterans. So since 2007 he has interned in 
my Boston office for 4 days a week, working with my senior staff on 
behalf of active servicemembers, veterans and their families. He is 
also an active member of the American Legion and the Catholic War 
Veterans Organization, where he volunteers in assisting wounded 
veterans and their families. And as if that is not enough, all the 
while he has also been working toward an undergraduate degree at UMass 
Boston.
  This spring, Joe completed his degree's requirements. During the 
university's commencement ceremony, UMass Boston Chancellor J. Keith 
Motley cited Joe as an inspiration to all

[[Page 10383]]

his classmates. ``Joseph Bykowski served our country for eight years, 
from Ground Zero, to Iraq, before he joined us to major in history and 
political science,'' Chancellor Motley said. ``He is a leader in 
veterans' affairs on campus and at the State House, where he's 
testified before the legislature, interned for Senator John Kerry, and 
helped found the nation's first program dedicated to our veterans' 
mental health. Joe has overcome tremendous personal obstacles to get 
where he is, and he lifts others up with him.''
  I couldn't agree more. I have known Joe for 5 years, and I have been 
impressed all along by his dedication to public service and his 
devotion to his fellow veterans. It was Joe's idea to organize a 
``Welcome Home Cruise'' to honor wounded Massachusetts vets who had 
just returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Joe worked with my office 
and leveraged his ties to Massachusetts Vets organizations, working 
together to invite hundreds of vets and their families to join us for 
an evening on the water in Boston. I was honored to have the chance to 
present several of our wounded heroes with Purple Hearts on that boat--
a memory I treasure, and one I don't think would have been possible 
without Joe's creativity and initiative.
  Joe is still reaching out to veterans. Just this month, Joe helped us 
arrange an honorary GED for Vietnam veteran Ron Estrella, a longtime 
patient at the Brockton VA spinal care unit who was diagnosed with 
terminal cancer. To earn the GED, Ron worked with UMass-Boston's Upward 
Bound, a program that helps students finish high school--no surprise, 
it is just one more program where Joe himself is an active leader and 
member.
  President Kennedy once said that ``the highest appreciation is not to 
utter words, but to live by them.'' He would have recognized that 
quality in Joe Bykowski. Joe has lived--and continues to live--a life 
devoted to service to country, in many forms. Whether he's serving on 
the other side of the world on the frontlines in Iraq, or down the 
street at the New England Center for Homeless Veterans serving a 
spaghetti dinner, there's one constant: Joe lives for service.
  I have no doubt that he will put his UMass-Boston degree to the same 
great use.
  I congratulate Joe Bykowski on his graduation, thank him for his 
service these last years in my office, and salute all that he's 
accomplished. We can't wait to see what he does next.

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