[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13904]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY


                      Major Louis Fulda Guillermin

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise to acknowledge the military service 
of a Pennsylvania constituent who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our 
Nation during the Vietnam war. Tomorrow, September 20, is National POW/
MIA Recognition Day, so it is only fitting that I tell his story. After 
a 45-year absence, Maj. Louis Fulda Guillermin, U.S. Air Force, is 
finally returning home to Pennsylvania.
  Louis Guillermin, the only child of the late Wister and Myrtle Booker 
Guillermin, was born on January 6, 1943, in West Chester, PA. Louis 
joined the Air Force after college and completed his pilot training at 
Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. In addition, he received 
further training in radar and celestial navigation instruction at 
Connelly Air Force Base. Louis was commissioned as a second lieutenant 
and awarded his silver wings in April 1964.
  During his second tour in South East Asia, Major Guillermin flew 
counterinsurgency missions as a navigator in an A-26A Invader aircraft 
for the 609th Air Commando Squadron. On April 28, 1968, at the age of 
25, Major Guillermin's aircraft went down over Savannakhet Province, 
Laos. Louis would remain missing for many years and would achieve the 
rank of major while on missing-in-action status. Many years later, his 
aircraft was located, and on May 28, 2013, the Department of Defense 
positively identified his remains thanks to the efforts of the Joint 
Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command.
  Despite having been missing for all these years, Maj. Louis F. 
Guillermin was never forgotten. The Vietnam Veterans of America, 
Chapter 436, of Chester County, PA, adopted his name for their chapter. 
Now, Louis will be laid to rest on October 5, and on behalf of the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Nation, I would like to welcome 
him home.
  I share the story of Major Guillermin not only because the formal 
recognition of his sacrifice is long overdue, but also as a reminder 
that there are many others that remain missing. An estimated 1,644 
members of the Armed Forces remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam 
war. A total of 91 of those are from Pennsylvania. I would also like to 
mention that there are an estimated 83,000 total unaccounted for 
members of the Armed Forces since World War II. We as a nation have a 
responsibility to make every effort in accounting for the missing and 
providing this information to the loved ones and the communities who 
have experienced such a profound loss. May Major Guillermin, and all 
missing-in-action servicemembers who have passed on from this world, 
rest in eternal peace. You have more than earned your dignity and 
honor, as well as our reverence. You are not forgotten.

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