[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4594-4596]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO MR. LEONARD GILLIAM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today I wish to pay tribute to a true 
American hero who honorably answered the call to serve his country in 
its dire time of need, Mr. Leonard Gilliam of Laurel County, KY.
  Mr. Gilliam was born in McWhorter, KY, in 1919. The 92-year-old has 
had an incredible life on this Earth thus far. Leonard was a country 
boy who had lived on his family farm his entire life. He was the first 
boy from McWhorter to get the call from the U.S. Army in 1941; he was 
21 years old.
  The newly enlisted men, along with Gilliam, headed to basic training 
in Fort Thomas, KY. Gilliam was trained in artillery; during training 
he learned how to man a tank gun. After training ended he was 
transferred to Fort Benning, GA, where he would reside

[[Page 4595]]

until December of 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the 
declaration of war, which for Gilliam would mean being deployed to the 
front.
  The young Leonard Gilliam knew that going to war would be difficult, 
and his bringing up had prepared him to face the difficult road ahead. 
He had spent his childhood working on the farm and walking through 
fields and creeks, to and from the Twin Branch School, every day. But 
what the eager Gilliam did not foresee was the opportunities he would 
be presented with during his time in the service. A chance to see the 
world and forge a lifelong friendship were not in the then 21-year-
old's plans back then.
  His much needed experience with tanks landed him a spot on the front 
lines, and Gilliam entered the war in Casablanca, North Africa. He 
traveled through Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia before heading towards 
Europe. Gilliam was called to invade the island of Sicily on July 10, 
1942. He was later awarded the Bronze Arrowhead for his courageous 
actions during the invasion.
  Gilliam spent time in Sicily guarding POWs. He remembers eating with 
them, talking with them, and even giving them cigarettes. Looking back, 
he says that the prisoners were some of the finest people he has ever 
met. He stayed at the prison in Sicily until he was called to go to 
Normandy. He arrived in France a mere 4 days after the invasion of the 
beach on June 6, 1944.
  The hardships experienced by Gilliam in France were some of the 
toughest times of the war for him. But in the midst of a dark shadow 
cast by war, Gilliam met Vayne McCoy, a fellow tank gunner who would 
soon become his best friend. The two friends helped each other see the 
end of the war, and then they lost track of each other once they had 
returned back to the States. It wasn't until 1997--53 years later--when 
the two would reunite. The two war buddies shared a deep bond, one that 
they continue to share to this day.
  The veteran now recalls the warm welcome he received when he finally 
made his return trip home in 1945 after 3 years overseas. Mr. Gilliam 
is a modest man. He feels like he is undeserving of the hero's welcome 
he received after World War II. He believes that the real heroes were 
the ones that ``stayed over there,'' the ones who made the ultimate 
sacrifice for their country and never got the chance to come home.
  The former soldier now enjoys life as a full-time family man. He is a 
husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Leonard is a 
remarkable man who has been on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Even 
after all that he has been through, both the good and the bad, he is 
still grateful he had opportunity. Although he says he wouldn't go on a 
trip around the world again for $1 million, he doesn't regret getting 
to see the world for free the first time.
  In November 2011, there was an article about Mr. Leonard Gilliam 
published in the Sentinel Echo Silver Edition, a magazine based in 
Laurel County, KY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that said 
article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From the Sentinel Echo: Silver Edition, Nov. 2011]

                 World War II: A Trip Around the World

                          (By Carrie Dillard)

       Leonard Gilliam remembers the days when he and his family 
     ``didn't have a cable bill, water bill or electric bill.'' 
     The 92-year-old Laurel County native has lived on his family 
     farm his whole life.
       He was born in 1919 in McWhorter. It was a time when, he 
     said, ``everybody used a mule pair, everybody had a milk cow 
     and some beef cattle, and everybody had their own hogs.''
       You worked hard, he said. Kept your house warm buying coal 
     for $1 a ton at the mines or a jug of kerosene for 10 cents a 
     gallon. You cooked on a wood stove, and there were always 
     chores to do.
       He had to ``go through the field and cross the creek 
     twice'' on his walk to Twin Branch School each day, so when 
     he joined the U.S. Army in 1941, he was used to walking.
       During the course of his military career, Gilliam would 
     spend approximately three years overseas, engage in six major 
     battles and one invasion. He would end his days in World War 
     II in Berlin, Germany, during the Army occupation in July 
     1945.
       Gilliam was drafted. ``They didn't draft until (age) 21 in 
     those days,'' he said. He was the first one in the McWhorter 
     community who got the call.
       ``There was a busload of us left London early one 
     morning,'' he said, on their way to Fort Thomas, Kentucky. In 
     less than two days, a contingent from all across the state 
     filled a train headed to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for 
     basic training.
       Gilliam was trained in artillery. He would later man the 
     tank gun, causing him to lose nearly all of his hearing.
       He served in the 2nd Armored Division (Hells on Wheels) 
     under division commander George S. Patton, who once said the 
     2nd Armored Division ``could do the impossible'' because he 
     trained them.
       Gilliam was at Fort Benning, Georgia, when the Japanese 
     attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.
       ``They put more guards out, more security,'' he said, ``as 
     war was declared.'' Gilliam and his division began more 
     practices and maneuvers, traveling back and forth from 
     Georgia and North Carolina, until his deployment overseas. In 
     total, Gilliam would serve six six-month tours overseas.
       As a gunner, he said ``the tanks were needed on the front'' 
     as soon as they arrived in Casablanca, North Africa. They 
     traveled to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, and on July 10, 
     they invaded the island of Sicily, for which Gilliam was 
     awarded a Bronze Arrowhead.
       ``Sicily was an interesting place,'' Gilliam said. It was 
     there he worked as a security officer at an old penitentiary, 
     guarding POWs.
       ``I had a gun and they didn't, but they didn't give me any 
     trouble,'' he said.
       In fact, he said, once they got acquainted, the POWs were 
     ``some of the finest people I met.''
       He said he'd put his gun up and sit down to eat with the 
     prisoners. They ate the same rations--MREs (meal, ready to 
     eat) just as the soldiers did, and were even given 
     cigarettes.
       Gilliam said he and his fellow soldiers were put on a boat 
     in Sicily and weren't told where they were headed.
       ``It looked like we was going to the United States,'' he 
     said, ``but we was going toward England.''
       They were on the water at Thanksgiving, and, shortly 
     thereafter, landed in Liverpool.
       The invasion of Normandy took place on June 6, 1944. 
     Gilliam arrived just four days later.
       Although he describes it as some of the roughest times in 
     the war, it is also where he met a good friend: Vayne McCoy.
       McCoy was five years younger than Gilliam, and took to him 
     like a younger brother. Both Gilliam and McCoy were on tanks. 
     Gilliam's was called ``Crimson Tide,'' McCoy's ``Churchill.''
       The two lost track of one another after the war, but 
     reunited in 1997, more than 50 years later. Today, they ``get 
     together pretty often,'' Gilliam said, their families 
     becoming like family to each other.
       Gilliam said the Germans were smart, and without the 
     combined effort of the U.S. Army and Air Force, they would 
     not have succeeded in driving them back.
       In September 1944, Gilliam crossed the Belgium border, but 
     it wasn't an easy trek. He said it rained the whole way there 
     and turned to snow; it was the coldest winter he'd ever felt.
       The Battle of the Bulge was upon them. Standing in knee-
     deep snow, Gilliam said he and his fellow soldiers would fire 
     their guns and huddle around the tank to keep warm. He was 
     nearly overcome by the exhaust fumes from the machine just 
     trying to get warm. Gilliam suffers from the effects of 
     frostbite to this day.
       For a time, Gilliam and his company stayed in a local 
     farmer's barn. The owners, he said, knew of their presence, 
     and he said the owners were overjoyed to help.
       Without the protection of that barn, they likely ``would 
     have frozen to death.'' Gilliam said the group held up in 
     that barn, sleeping in the hayloft, for three weeks until 
     temperatures got warmer.
       Gilliam said he remembers the faces of young children as 
     they made the journey across France, Belgium, and Holland.
       ``The children were standing and waving at us. If we halted 
     for some reason, they'd climb the tanks and hug everybody.
       ``The look on those little children's faces, you was glad 
     to have done that for them,'' he said.
       In April 1945, Gilliam said his outfit met the Russians on 
     the Elbe River.
       ``For me, the war ended. I didn't fire another shot.''
       Gilliam said soldiers returning from World War II got a 
     hero's welcome, but veterans of other wars, like the Korean 
     War or Vietnam, did not receive the same respect. ``Soldiers 
     of the Korean War didn't get that welcome when they came 
     home,'' he said. ``They could've used a welcome home, too.'' 
     But Gilliam has never considered himself a hero. Those are 
     the ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice, he said. In 238 
     days of battle, the 2nd Armored Division suffered 7,348 
     casualties, including 1,160 killed in action.
       ``The heroes didn't come back. They're still there.''
       His older brother, Blane, was among them. Blane Gilliam, an 
     Army radio operator who was serving in the Pacific, was 
     killed in action/missing in action at age 30. Gilliam 
     received word of his death around the time he reached 
     Germany.

[[Page 4596]]

       Following the war, Gilliam returned home and married Wilma 
     George, who was 11 years his junior.
       ``Here I was a 25-year-old man, been around the world on a 
     killing spree,'' he said. They were married for 61 years and 
     had three children--Wanda, Coy and Linda. Today, Gilliam has 
     three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is a 
     member of Twin Branch Methodist Church.
       ``I wouldn't make that trip (again) for one million 
     dollars,'' he said. ``But I got to see the world (for 
     free).''

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