[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12746]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  PRIVATE FIRST CLASS JAMES CALVIN (BILL) ROBERTSON BRIDGE DEDICATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, August 18, 2017

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, today we honor lifelong Wayne County 
resident, Private First Class James Calvin (Bill) Robertson, decorated 
combat veteran, farmer, friend, and family man.
  Born on the 4th of July, 1923, PFC Robertson trained as an Army 
Cannoneer and shipped to the Asiatic Pacific Theater of Operations in 
1945 to protect American ground forces from enemy aircraft at Iwo Jima. 
His Anti-Aircraft Artillery unit's mission: To keep the airstrips open 
and safe for refueling B29 bombers on their way to targets on the 
Japanese mainland.
  For this critical service, PFC Robertson was awarded the World War II 
Victory Medal, The Good Conduct Medal, The American Theater Ribbon, and 
the Asian-Pacific Theater Ribbon with two Bronze Service Stars. His 
battalion enabled American forces to invade Japan and change the 
trajectory of the war in favor of the Allies. But he rarely spoke of 
his military sacrifice, seared into our minds by the iconic U.S. Marine 
Corp monument of soldiers raising the American flag high above the Iwo 
Jima battlefield in February 1945. PFC Robertson simply acknowledged 
that he was there.
  He returned to Wayne County in December 1945, married, and purchased 
farmland through which the Middle Butler Creek flows. Many family 
memories were made with his eight children, on this land, in this 
creek, and throughout his 90 years.
  We dedicate the Butler Creek Bridge to the memory of Private First 
Class James Calvin (Bill) Robertson, World War II hero, who not only 
ensured the lives lost at Iwo Jima were not lost in vain, but who left 
a legacy of service and sacrifice.

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