[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1282-1283]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO GENERAL CHUCK YEAGER

  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, few Americans have helped this great 
country reach for the stars more than Gen. Chuck Yeager. Long before 
there were astronauts there was Chuck Yeager, a fearless test pilot, a 
true aviation pioneer paving the way for America's exploration of the 
galaxy. But Chuck Yeager's military career involved so much more than 
just testing cutting-edge aircraft and, as almost everyone knows, 
becoming the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound. Few 
Americans have been as unwavering or as relentless as Chuck Yeager in 
defense of this great country, in war and in peace, from World War II 
to Vietnam.
  He was part of the ``greatest generation'' of Americans, the 
generation that fought and won World War II and then came home and made 
America the world's greatest superpower. Among the greatest in that 
generation was Chuck Yeager.
  Today is Chuck's 90th birthday, and I invite the entire Senate to 
join me in congratulating him. I am so proud of this man. Not only is 
he a native son of West Virginia but he is also a dear friend of mine. 
Chuck lives in California now, with his wife Victoria, but he still 
comes to West Virginia to hunt with me and roam the hills where he grew 
up.
  He also visits the State from time to time to promote the foundation 
which bears his name, and which supports a scholarship program at 
Marshall University.
  When I was Governor, Chuck and Victoria would sometimes visit Gayle 
and me at the Governor's Mansion. Some of you know I am a pilot, and 
during one of his visits to West Virginia I got him

[[Page 1283]]

to join me on a flight. We were trying out a new airplane for the 
State. It was a real honor, but it was a little bit daunting, if you 
will, that I am flying left seat and Chuck is right behind me, 
evaluating the entire flight. Looking over my shoulder, having the 
greatest pilot who ever lived sitting there, was something I will never 
forget.
  Some of the story of Chuck's life you probably know and some of it 
you may not. Chuck grew up in the small town of Hamlin. That is in 
Lincoln County, WV, so deep in an Appalachian holler that folks there 
used to say you had to pump in the sunshine. His father Albert Hal 
worked as a driller in the gasfields. His mother Susie Mae took care of 
Chuck, his two brothers, and two sisters.
  Chuck and his father went hunting and fishing together. Chuck also 
worked with his father in the oilfields. He was fascinated by the 
drilling equipment. He liked cars--real fast cars. He especially liked 
his old man's Chevy truck. He not only drove it, he studied all of its 
mechanical details. He could basically take it apart and rebuild it.
  Looking back, it is not surprising that in the middle of World War 
II, a patriotic kid from West Virginia who was good with rifles, 
mechanical equipment, and fast cars enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as 
an airplane mechanic--his first step toward becoming the single 
greatest pilot who has ever lived.
  A new ``flying sergeants'' program eventually gave him his first 
chance to fly. Up until that time it was officers only. His first 
couple training flights didn't go so well. Some people might not know 
this, but he had to overcome airsickness. Can you believe that Chuck 
Yeager got airsick? Before long he found a new home in the sky in the 
cockpit of an airplane.
  During World War II, Chuck flew numerous combat missions over Europe 
and shot down 13 enemy aircraft--5 in 1 mission. He was shot down over 
German-occupied France in 1944 but escaped capture to fly another day. 
But before he could do that, he had to argue his case against being 
sent home under a no more combat rule. The rule was basically if a 
pilot was shot down, they could not let them go back, because if they 
were captured, they could basically tell who the people who saved them 
were. He pushed his way all the way up the chain of command to Supreme 
Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike ultimately granted 
Chuck's request to stay with his men.
  After the war, Chuck became a test pilot. On October 14, 1947, he did 
what no man had done before--he broke the sound barrier in the 
experimental X-1 plane named the ``Glamorous Glennis,'' after his late 
wife. His fabled flight ushered in a new era of aviation that prepared 
America for its greatest leap into space and so began the legend of 
Chuck Yeager.
  Tom Wolfe wrote in ``The Right Stuff''--a movie most of us have seen. 
If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do. Tom Wolfe wrote:

       There were . . . other pilots with enough Pilot Ego to 
     believe that they were actually better than this drawlin' hot 
     dog.

  Chuck had a way with words, if you ever have a chance to speak with 
him.

       But no one could contest the fact that as of that time, the 
     1950s, Chuck Yeager was at the top of the pyramid, number one 
     among all the True Brothers.

  Throughout his long military career, General Yeager flew more than 
10,000 hours in more than 330 models of aircraft. In 1966, he flew 127 
missions in South Vietnam. He received numerous awards, including the 
Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the 
Purple Heart, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the special 
peacetime Medal of Honor. He was the youngest military pilot to be 
inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973.
  Chuck officially retired from the Air Force in 1975 but maintained 
his status as a test pilot for another three decades, occasionally 
flying for the Air Force and NASA as a consultant.
  In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight breaking the 
sound barrier, he again flew past Mach One in an F-15D Eagle named the 
``Glamorous Glennis III.'' It was his last official flight with the Air 
Force. Of course, nothing stops Chuck Yeager. So last October on the 
65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, he did it again, in 
another aircraft, at the age of 89.
  Whenever he is asked about all his exploits, Chuck says he was just 
``doing his job,'' and that all he is he ``owes to the Air Force.'' He 
has never ever wavered from that.
  In his autobiography, he wrote:

       My beginnings back in West Virginia tell who I am to this 
     day. My accomplishments as a pilot tell more about luck, 
     happenstance, and a person's destiny. But the guy who broke 
     the sound barrier was the kid who swam the Mud River with a 
     swiped watermelon, or shot the head off a squirrel before 
     school.

  Tom Wolfe believed Chuck Yeager to be the ``most righteous of all 
possessors of the right stuff.'' Wolfe himself struggled to explain 
what he meant by ``the right stuff.'' His best explanation was that 
``the right stuff'' is that rare, almost indefinable mix of bravery, 
heroism, hard work, and focus that someone brings to ``a cause that 
means something to a people, a nation, to humanity, to God.'' That 
describes Gen. Chuck Yeager as well as anything else I know.
  He is a man of extraordinary skill and legendary courage. He has an 
unparalleled sense of duty and service to his country. He risked his 
life over and over. He is a great West Virginian. He is a great 
American. On his 90th birthday he is still, without a doubt, a man with 
``the right stuff.''
  I wish my dear friend the happiest of birthdays, and I urge every 
Senator to join me in saluting Gen. Chuck Yeager for his long and 
courageous service to this great country.
  Thank you, General Yeager.
  I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I rise to speak in morning business for 
such time as I may consume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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