[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17973]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




HONORING JOHN D. SLATER, SR. FOR HIS COURAGEOUS SERVICE IN WORLD WAR II

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                       HON. BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 21, 2013

  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding 
World War II service of Private John D. Slater, Sr.
  Mr. Slater was born in 1919, just a year after the close of the First 
World War. He grew up in a country ravaged by the Great Depression and 
marked by segregation and Jim Crow. Mr. Slater lived in some of the 
deepest parts of the South, picking cotton as early as five years old.
  When war broke out in Europe and reached our doorstep in the Pacific, 
Mr. Slater was drafted into the Army to serve and protect our country. 
He served in the 43rd Quartermaster Company and the 2nd Army.
  Mr. Slater's company crossed the Rhine River on temporary bridges 
during heavy shelling, facing fierce opposition at every turn. By war's 
end, Mr. Slater had served in France, Belgium and Holland.
  At one point, Mr. Slater was separated from his company behind enemy 
lines for three months before being found 1,000 miles from their 
destination point. In 1946, he was honorably discharged after four 
years in the Army.
  Today, at 94 years old, Mr. Slater is one of only three remaining 
African Americans who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. During this, 
the last-gasp effort of the German army, the allied forces bent, but 
held and won the day--and the war. Mr. Slater was not only a witness to 
a defining moment in the world's history, he helped shape it.
  After the war, Mr. Slater blazed his own trail, working for roughly 
30 years with American Motors, starting in 1949, and opening Slater's 
Barbecue in Waukegan, Illinois, in the district I represent, in 1957. 
On weekends, for 40 years, he would cook his famous foot-longs and 
ribs, serving a gracious and eager community.
  Mr. Slater has been a devoted husband and father and a pillar of the 
community for decades. Mr. Speaker, it is my great honor to recognize 
John D. Slater, Sr. for his service to our country and his impact in 
the community.

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