Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Galen Wiley, a World War II Army Air Corps veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Galen Wiley was recognized on Tuesday, July 27. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Galen Wiley

(By Alexander Hutchins)

Galen Wiley, 93, nurtured a passion for flight in his time

in the Army Air Corps. It would help shape the rest of his

life and give him a pursuit that would eventually include an

airport bearing his name.

Wiley grew up on a farm near Jordan, Iowa and attended

school in a building that is no longer standing. Wiley's

father died when he was eleven, facilitating the family's

move to Boone. Wiley has spent the rest of his life in the

community.

Wiley was a paperboy in his youth. He graduated from Boone

High School and worked as a salesman in the J.C. Penny's and

J.C. Peterson stores, where he was employed when he was

inducted into the army.

Wiley entered the Army Air Corp and was originally placed

in mechanic school. He soon opted for an officer training

program, however, and took whole-heartedly to the training.

Wiley was sent to England to fly a B-17 bomber, and he flew

bombing runs over France, Holland, and Germany during his

time in the service. Wiley's B-17 once suffered an equipment

failure while flying over Holland, but he managed to land the

plane with the left landing gear jammed. It was a harrowing

experience, but the crew would survive and celebrate Wiley's

achievement. ``I came out okay on it,'' Wiley said with a

smile.

Wiley once flew a mission on which he saw the plane of a

fellow Boone pilot, David Mondt.

Wiley flew many of his missions with English pilots, and

went into London several times during the war. ``We flew an

awful lot, day after day,'' Wiley said of routine life in the

Air Corps. The King of England and (at that time) Princess

Elizabeth once visited the air base where Wiley was

stationed.

Upon returning from the war in 1946, Wiley and his wife

Marian were wed. Wiley was hired as a treasurer at city hall

and soon promoted to a city clerk. He also joined the

National Guard, and greatly enjoyed the chance to fly again.

Wiley split much of his attention between his job with the

city and the airport, and drafted the original paperwork to

create the airport after the war. For many years Wiley served

on the airport commission, even after his retirement from

city hall, until resigning on his 90th birthday. On his 91st

birthday, the airport commission renamed the airport `Galen

Wiley Field' in honor of Wiley's dedication to the airport

through the years. He has also been presented with a display

of his service medals that friends from the airport crafted

for him.

Wiley served in the National Guard for 31 years after the

war, and was able to fly on some weekends as part of his

guard duty. He still enjoys going to the airport to watch the

planes take off and land, maintaining his passion for flight.

Wiley's son Bill died in a car accident when he was 23, but

the family has persevered. Shirley Wiley, Galen's daughter

and a retired nurse, lives in Boone to this day and assisted

with this article.

Wiley still stays in contact with the other three surviving

members of his crew. Two of his crewmates live in California

and one lives in Texas. The men still call and stay in touch,

and have met up for reunions in the past.

I commend Galen Wiley for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Kenny Barnes, a World War II Army Air Corps veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Kenny Barnes was recognized on Tuesday, August 3. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Kenny Barnes

(By Alexander Hutchins)

Joseph Kenneth ``Kenny'' Barnes, 85, was born in Boone and

flew 51 missions over a period of three months. His children

have kidded him, calling him `the general,' and he lives

today in a house that he built 51 years ago.

Barnes was born in Boone in 1925, the second son of Elmer

and Nellie Barnes. In a history of Barnes' life written by

his wife, Helen, he recalls ``My childhood in the depression

years was like many others--we were poor, but always had food

and shelter and a loving family with two sisters, Wilma and

Joanne, and two brothers, Charles and Jimmy, a father who was

an engineer on the railroad and a mother who took care of the

family, making sure we kept clean, nourished, did our chores

and all went to church on Sunday.''

Barnes had a paper route delivering the Des Moines

Register, using the money to buy some of his own clothing.

Barnes' father served in World War I, and during Barnes'

childhood the second World War was fast approaching. When he

went to collect his papers for delivery on Pearl Harbor Day,

December 7, 1941, his circulation manager, Sam Lyon,

predicted the young men would be involved in the upcoming war

before it concluded as the news played out over the radio in

the shop.

Barnes completed his high school requirements in January of

1943 and was drafted before the graduation ceremony took

place in the fall. Barnes took basic training in Salt Lake

City and was placed in the Army Air Corps. With no slots open

for flight school, Barnes was trained as a gunner and

attended armament school.

Barnes was trained to fly in a B-24 Liberator bomber, and

when his crew of ten was formed and received its B-24, they

christened it Paperdoll. While flying between Florida,

Trinidad, Brazil, Africa and Italy, the crew crossed the

equator and became members of the ``Hyper Terrestrial Order

of Equator Hoppers,'' for which Barnes has retained his

certificate.

The crew was based in Foggia, Italy, and had to delay their

landing until bombers returning from a mission had landed.

``It was a rude awakening as we taxied down the airstrip to

see a plane with the

nose turret shot off, and the wounded and dead airmen

arranged on the ground covered in sheets. Hard sight for a

19-year-old airman to absorb,'' Barnes said in Helen's

written history.

Barnes' first mission was May 18, 1944, where his squadron

was assigned to bomb a Romanian oil refinery. Barnes weighed

only 125 pounds, and as the smallest member of the crew he

was assigned to the ball turret on this and subsequent

missions. Barnes would fly on four missions over the Ploesti

oil refineries, as it produced a major amount of the fuel for

the German military. Barnes said they were the toughest

missions, as the refineries were heavily defended with ``flak

so thick you could walk on it'' and enemy fighters menacing

the bombers.

``I was pretty young. I'm 18 and I'm flying combat at 19,''

Barnes said.

Barnes flew regularly as he was able to fit into the

cramped space of the ball turret, and due to this he racked

up over 50 missions. According to Helen's written history:

``On July 28, 1944, a Ploesti raid, we sent out 27 airplanes

from our 756th Bomb Squadron and lost 14. My plane was badly

shot up--elevators and ailerons gone and no control over the

plane, just flying on automatic pilot. We all bailed out and

fortunately it was over `friendly' territory. The plane was

lost, but the crew all survived. The emergency parachute jump

earned me entrance into `The Caterpillar Club,' awarded by

Irving Air Chute Co.''

Barnes said he thanked the Lord for bringing him through

his missions unscathed and he prayed for the safety of the

crew.

The Liberator would often have difficulty taking off due to

its payload of 2,000-pound bombs. The aircraft would often

skim the treetops on takeoff. It was cold in the plane due to

the cruising altitude of 28,000 feet.

``More than once we came home on two engines,'' Barnes

said. ``On one occasion, with the brake system disabled,

chutes were attached to the fuselage and deployed to slow

down the landing speed.''

Barnes' crew lost only one member, but as he was flying on

a separate plane as part of a split crew, Barnes watched the

other craft fall from the sky without any of the crew

escaping.

``The army was good discipline, and it made a man out of

me. I didn't have time to get a job or get into trouble,''

Barnes said in an interview with the BN-R.

Barnes said he has thought of the toll of the war he fought

in, as well as the wars of today, and how war has never

stopped being a tragedy.

Barnes received a Good Conduct medal, and Air medal with

two clusters, and Army Air Force Pres. Unit with gold frame

and two clusters, an Army Air medal with two clusters and a

European Air Force MidEast medal with six Bronze Stars. Upon

completing 51 missions on August 7, 1944, Barnes was

scheduled to return to the U.S. for reassignment. After a

two-week voyage back to the U.S. by a Navy ship, Barnes was

moved about the country for about a year teaching mostly

Aircraft Recognition. He was honorably discharged on

September 10, 1945 and returned to Boone. Barnes enlisted in

the National Guard upon returning home, and his military

career ended with a medical discharge due to allergies three

years later.

Barnes used the GI Bill to study pre-engineering at Boone

Junior College. He received his degree in 1948 and was

recruited by Iowa Electric Power Co. where he worked as an

electrician and meter man until his retirement in 1984.

Barnes has always been interested in technology and repaired

television sets in his home from 1967 until the present.

Barnes will be aboard the Honor Flight to Washington D.C.

on August 19.

I commend Kenny Barnes for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Keith Pfrimmer, a Navy veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Keith Pfrimmer was recognized on Tuesday, August 10. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Keith Pfrimmer

(By Alexander Hutchins)

Keith Pfrimmer, 79, served as a radar technician on the USS

Frontier from July 1951 to July 1955. Over the course of four

years, he would travel to Japan, the seas of Asia, the West

Coast and Japan.

The Frontier was a destroyer tender, providing support to

the 7th fleet. Pfrimmer was assigned to the ship and sailed

with it after it had been recommissioned. He served in O

Division, or the Operations Division.

``When we were under way I'd stand radar watches, which

helped a great deal in the maneuvers of the ship,'' Pfrimmer

said. ``The ship didn't see any action. It wasn't that kind

of ship.''

Pfrimmer's brother had served in the Navy in World War II,

and had helped Pfrimmer decide on the Navy as his service.

The ship carried a two-star admiral and would occasionally

dock chained up to Destroyers in the fleet to service and

resupply them.

``It [the ship] wasn't in a danger zone, other than we were

in Korean waters,'' Pfrimmer said.

``If we went into dry dock, we had to completely unload all

ammo and that type of thing. When we'd come out of dry dock,

we'd go to the same place and reload ammo. The ammo was

mostly for supplies; we wouldn't use it,'' Pfrimmer said.

During the first cruise to Japan that Pfrimmer served, the

Frontier had to veer out to sea to avoid a typhoon. The

anchor had to he severed in the storm and the ship returned

to California and the state of Washington for repairs.

``We were in Korean waters when we went to Kobe, Japan,''

Pfrimmer said.

The Frontier serviced 146 ships on its third cruise and

held an open house to the public in 1954 back in the U.S.

Servicing ships and providing repairs for Destroyers that

sailed in Korean waters during the war was the most common

task on board.

Pfrimmer said his experiences in the Navy made him more

punctual and gave him a better sense of responsibility.

``I chose the Navy and I got to do just what I wanted to do

when I joined. I got to see a lot of places,'' Pfrimmer said.

``It was a good experience, though I was away from home.'' He

said he also appreciates the benefits he gets through the VA.

``I've got a lot of respect for the Navy,'' Pfrimmer said.

``I think the technology is a lot different now. I bet I

wouldn't even recognize radar today.''

He is still interested in the Navy and researches naval

history.

I commend Keith Pfrimmer for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Donald Erb, a World War II Army veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Donald Erb was recognized on Tuesday, September 14. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Donald Erb

(By Greg Eckstrom)

At 84 years old, Donald Erb might be considered one of the

younger veterans of World War II, but still shares many

characteristics with other WWII veterans of the time. He is

disciplined, modest and sees military service as many did in

his time . . . as more of a duty than an option.

Moving to Boone County with his family at a very young age

in 1929, Erb graduated from Ogden High School and was

immediately drafted into the Army as an infantry soldier in

1944.

``I graduated high school in 44 and went into the Army in

44,'' he said. ``Just as soon as I got out of high school. We

went to a replacement depot and wherever they needed soldiers

was where they sent you. I went to Camp Walters, Texas, for

16 weeks training and then we shipped to the Philippines.''

Erb arrived in the Philippines just as the heavy fighting

in Manila was finishing up and jungle warfare was going on

outside the city. A machine gunner during his time stationed

there, Erb recalls his fellow soldiers as being one of the

best parts about his service.

``Buddies, friends,'' he said when asked about his favorite

part of service. As far as what stood out to him most in his

time overseas, however, the answer was the difficulty of

fighting in the jungle.

``I think jungle warfare,'' he said. ``All these supplies

were brought in by water buffalo. Any injuries or anybody

that was hit or killed was carried out by Filipino litter

bearers. We didn't have any roads. As we took the jungle and

got control of it, then bulldozers made roads.''

As roads were bulldozed into the jungles, tanks were

brought in to clean out the caves.

``They bulldozed a major road there and brought tanks in

with flamethrowers and cleaned out the caves and stuff in

there by using flamethrower tanks,'' he said.

Erb also recalls the final days of World War II, when

atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Like

many WWII veterans, he saw the bombs, and the resulting end

of the war, as a Godsend.

``The atomic bomb, I would say, saved my life,'' he said.

``Because every man, woman and child would have been armed in

Japan. It probably saved the lives of a lot of people even

though it killed a lot of people at the time. Every man,

woman and child would have been fighting you otherwise. It

would have been a bloodbath on both sides.''

He also recalls the attitude among the soldiers upon

receiving the news that the war had ended.

``The boozers, they went out and got drunk,'' he said.

``But most of the soldiers just thanked God that it was over.

Everybody was glad it was over.''

Erb kept in contact with several of his fellow soldiers

from the war, now good friends although their numbers have

dwindled.

``I've got a buddy that was one day older than I am and

lived in Eugene, Oregon,'' he said. ``I've kept in contact

with about 7 or 8 guys, but I think there's only three of us

left. I was on the tail end of the war, and I'm 84, so these

other guys are getting up in the 90s. This flight that we

took up to Washington, D.C., one guy was celebrating his 94th

birthday that day.''

The flight Erb took, the Honor Flight, brought veterans to

Washington D.C. where they had a chance to visit monuments,

including the WWII memorial.

``It was a long day, but it was wonderful,'' he said. ``We

all had gold shirts on and these black hats. And when they

dumped you out at the memorial, you had 305 guys out there

with the gold shirts, and it was really kind of

fascinating.''

Being with other veterans, and seeing the World War II

memorial, Erb said was a great experience. In his view, the

war was difficult, but necessary.

``When you have to protect our country. . . World War II,

we didn't have a whole lot of choice,'' he said. ``We had

both ends of the world moving in on us.''

I commend Donald Erb for his many years of loyalty and service to our great Nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Joseph Calderon, a Navy and Army veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Joseph Calderon was recognized on Tuesday, August 17. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Joseph Calderon

(By Alexander Hutchins)

Joseph Calderon, 75, was drafted into the Army in 1959. It

was a requirement for his naturalized citizenship, and he

feels proud of both his native and adoptive countries to this

day.

Calderon grew up in a poor, but educated, family in La Paz,

Bolivia, the highest national capital in the western

hemisphere. His father always stressed the value of

education, and a lifetime of hard work helped Calderon earn

entry into a La Paz university to study medicine. At the time

of his studies, political instability gripped the nation. The

government frequently shut down the university where Calderon

studied, as the school was the source of much of the

insurrection against those in power. Frequent interruptions

to instruction influenced many medical students at the

university to leave.

``Most of my classmates decided to go to other parts of the

world,'' Calderon said. ``Some of them went to Argentina,

many went to Brazil, a lot of them went to Europe, to Spain.

And I, since I was so interested in and reading so much about

the U.S., decided to come to the U.S. My father thought that

it was a crazy idea, because he asked me ``who do you know up

there?' ''

Being 22 and adventurous was his impetus.

``Ever since I was a child, for as long as I remember, I

always wanted to be a doctor just to help people,'' Calderon

said. ``There was nothing else that interested me more than

to wear my white coat some day and taking care of patients.''

He applied to immigrate to the U.S. and moved to Nebraska.

Calderon was drafted into the Army in 1959 after working in a

mental institution in Hastings, Nebraska. While in the Army,

Calderon worked in a hospital as a medic and was stationed in

bases around the nation.

``The irony of my life is that, even though I had no idea

that I was going to he drafted into the Army, the moment I

put on that uniform I felt so proud because 1 used to see in

movies in my hometown John Wayne and other actors wearing

their uniform, and I'd dream that I'd get to wear a uniform

some day in my lift,'' Calderon said.

Having recently immigrated, his English was very limited.

Calderon said he followed the example of the men around him

at first, and with attention and practice he became much more

proficient in English. He met a good friend, Jerry Butler, in

1959. The men struck up a friendship, and Butler mentioned he

was from Eldora, Iowa, before the men were deployed. Butler

went to Korea and Calderon went to Fort Gordon in Augusta,

Ga. They would be separated for some time, though not

indefinitely.

After serving as a medic in Ft. Gordon, Calderon was

discharged from the Army and worked to complete the medical

studies he had begun in Bolivia. He returned to Omaha after

being discharged and worked as an orderly and then a surgical

technician. Due to financial issues and age limits, Calderon

was not able to attend medical school in the U.S. He applied

to a medical school in Mexico, was accepted and applied for

his license to practice medicine upon graduating five years

later. Calderon completed post-graduate training in Canada

and returned thereafter to work in Saint Joseph's hospital in

Omaha. In 1979, 20 years after first joining the Army,

Calderon enlisted in the Navy.

``That was very, very, very rewarding,'' Calderon said of

his 20 years in the Navy.

He had seen a billboard advertising the Navy as an

adventure in Omaha, and after researching the service,

Calderon decided the Navy fit his life goals. The recruiter

was impressed with Calderon and appreciated his medical

training, thus Calderon was soon shipped to the Naval

hospital in Camp Pendleton. He served several tours at

Pendleton, staying with the Marines each time thanks to the

requests of the Marines themselves.

``I worked with the Marines for 15 years,'' Calderon said.

Eventually Calderon would be reassigned, and he traveled

the world for a time, as well as directing a number of Navy

clinics.

``I also had the privilege to participate in Desert Storm

when Iraq invaded Kuwait. So I was the main medical planner

for one of the large units on the east coast in Camp Lejeune,

North Carolina, which was a Marine Corps base,'' Calderon

said.

He also provided humanitarian aid in Central America and

received mandatory retirement from the Navy in 1999 at the

rank of Captain.

``In essence, I had a wonderful time with the Navy. I

enjoyed every day of my life working in the Navy,'' Calderon

said. ``I didn't want to retire because I was still active,

healthy and very well liked.''

Unfortunately he would have to retire, but it would open a

new chapter of his life.

Calderon would leave the medical world after his tour in

the Navy, leaving a field that has become very complex and

burdened with paperwork. He and Mary Kay, his wife, moved

back to Mary Kay's hometown of Boone.

``I always tell people that I have so many projects, I have

no time to be busy,'' Calderon said happily.

He paints pictures, many on subjects pertinent to his home

country. He reads non-fiction, collects stamps and

international currency and he and Mary Kay travel frequently

to Europe, Ireland, and next year they hope to travel to

Bolivia. Calderon is also a member of the American Legion and

the Marine Corps League.

Calderon retired to Iowa, much to the surprise of his

colleagues. Both his sons, David and Roberto, live in

California, but Calderon retired to Iowa because of the

people. He said he has never felt at a disadvantage in the

U.S. because he endeavors to act with respect and

intelligence.

``I want to show and I want to tell people that immigrate

from a different country that once they come into this

country, they need to dedicate their lives to the county that

has given them tutelage, so to speak, or the ability to be

successful,'' Calderon said.

He feels strongly that the work and service he has given to

the United States is the reason he has been rewarded with

success and kindness.

``1 still care for Bolivia, but Bolivia hasn't given me

anything. The United States has helped me, and I have given

back to my country. I'm proud to fly a U.S. flag at my house,

and mainly to respect the laws of this country,'' Calderon

said.

Calderon still follows some of the traditions and ideas of

his native country, but he strives to act as an American in

public. He also presents a booth about the culture and

history of Bolivia at cultural fairs in Iowa.

Calderon said the legal process for immigration may be

strict, but it is the law and it should be followed and

respected. Federal laws on immigration should be enforced to

ensure that people entering the country can contribute to

society, he said.

``The demands are difficult and numerous to get into this

country, but while it takes work, it can be done, and it's

the way I and others have come here,'' Calderon said.

Calderon recently contacted Jerry Butler, his friend from

the Army in 1959. Calderon and Butler met on Butler's farm in

Eldora. The two men had a reunion, and after all the years

and miles apart their friendship showed to be just as strong

as it was fifty years ago.

I commend Joseph Calderon for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Kenneth Walter, a World War II Navy veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Kenneth Walter was recognized on Tuesday, September 7. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Kenneth Walter

(By Greg Eckstrom)

History is best learned from experience.

Living through it, feeling it and seeing it from your own

eyes.

As a former American history teacher, Kenneth Walter, who

has lived in Boone for 50 years now and is a retired United

administrator, would likely be the best teacher you can find

for World War II history from the Pacific.

Learning about Kamikaze pilots? Walter's boat was hit by

one. The flag raising on Mount Suribachi during the battle of

Iwo Jima? They came to Walter's boat first looking for a

spare flag, and ended up getting the one from the boat next

to him.

Walter's experiences brought him through some historic

moments in World War II, but as far as sharing this in his

classrooms after returning to the United States, he stuck to

teaching rather than sharing stories.

``In my years of teaching I don't ever recall an instance

of recounting the fact that I was in the service,'' he said.

``Everybody had been in the service. You did it and never

gave it too much thought.''

Born in Keokuk, Walter graduated high school in Cincinnati,

Ohio, before enlisting into the service.

``What choice was there for a young man, 16 or 17?'' he

recalled of signing up for the Navy. ``You got in just as

quick as you could . . . at least I did.''

And once he was in, Walter took pleasure in the little

things . . . the basic things.

``On most every occasion I had a bed. On most every

occasion, somebody else prepared my meal,'' he said with a

laugh. ``And beyond that, I had a great job in the Navy. I

was a quartermaster, which is not a quartermaster in the

Army. A quartermaster in the Navy is the master of the

quarter deck, which is the bridge. Quartermasters were in

charge of navigation. As a quartermaster, you had to be able

to do the same things a radio man did, the same things a

signal man did. I also got qualified as a radar man. We had

to do all sorts of things. We supervised the other enlisted

staff on the bridge. But of course, we were always managed by

officers. Navigation and communication were primary

responsibilities.''

Walter found himself aboard a Tank Landing Ship, the LST-

477, a long ship--about 325 feet--used to carry massive

amounts of cargo.

``We went to Guam and did landings there, landings at

Gilbert Islands. Our major action was in Iwo [Jima] when we

got into the action big time,'' he said. ``We had a kamikaze

hit us. That's when I lost my place to sleep.''

At the time, Walter's ship was carrying 25 tanks that were

to be discharged on the first day of the Battle of Iwo Jima--

a very heavy load.

``We were struck maybe 75 feet back from the bow,'' he

said. ``It was carrying a bomb in addition to itself as a

missile, and it penetrated the side and we went down on our

nose. We couldn't get in because of our bow being low. So we

had to wait two days. Finally, on the fourth day, we made it

in.''

Another vivid memory for Walter was the flag raising at

Mount Suribachi.

``We were one of the ships they came to looking for a flag

to put up on Mount Sirabachi on Iwo, and the ship next to us

had a flag extra, and we didn't happen to,'' he said. ``But

we did get to see the event from our ship. We blew our horns

and everything like that. The Marines let us know what they'd

done, because we had Marines who were unloading tanks at that

particular time.''

Walter also recalled the final day of World War II. His

ship had been remodeled to be a hospital ship for the

invasion of Japan.

``We had doctors and nurses aboard,'' he said. ``They put a

couple operating rooms down where we usually carry tanks. So

we were not unhappy to see the war be over. We were amongst

those that were pleased that the atom bombs stopped the war.

We knew what was going to happen to us.''

After the war ended, Walter traveled to Korea with a

construction battalion, and then back to Japan. His boat had

been decommissioned, and he found himself as part of the

group giving his boat to those they had previously been

fighting.

``It was an odd feeling,'' he said. ``There's nothing in

any history book about the United States helping the Japanese

in that kind of way. I think it's one of those typical things

Americans do . . . give the beaten people a better chance to

get by. And what happened to our ship, it was turned over to

some Japanese fishermen. We gave them about two days worth of

training on how to run the ship and gave it to them. On March

13, 1946, we did that. That's when I started my long trek

home. I got out in July of 1946. I took a ship, another ship,

back home.''

After his service, Walter moved to Illinois, then Boone,

where he has lived for the past 50 years. He most recently

went on the Honor Flight to Washington, DC. Although he had

been there several times in the past, it was the first time

he had seen the World War II Memorial.

``That's spectacular,'' he said. ``It really is.''

When recalling the history he's lived through, Walter

doesn't give the highlights typically heard of service men

and women of their travels.

``Yeah, I went to Japan and Korea and Australia and so

on,'' he said. ``But it's not like being a tourist. You're

not a tourist. There are a lot of places I was where I never

stepped foot on the ground. You were just . . . it's like

flying over Iowa.''

For Walter, he recalls the friendships that were formed

with those aboard his ship. Since World War II, they have

held reunions, and he has had friends from the service visit

him in Boone.

``Lasting friendship,'' he said. ``Not deep friendship,

just lasting. The service experience is something altogether

different. There isn't anything to explain it.''

I commend Kenneth Walter for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize John McGovern, a Vietnam War Army Ranger and Studies and Observations Group veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. John McGovern was recognized on Tuesday, August 31. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: John McGovern

(By Greg Eckstrom)

John McGovern worries about sounding like he's bragging

when he talks about his time in the military.

After all, with a resume of experiences like McGovern's,

it's hard to share them without this concern crossing your

head.

The man once briefed John Wayne. He's been part of the

handful of graduates from some of the most difficult military

training in the country. He's seen shrapnel come within

inches of hitting him, walked through an ambush by himself

and cheated death more than half a dozen times.

And so he recalls these experiences in a quiet, modest

voice. He's proud of his time in the military, but quickly

dismisses any comments that even tread on being complimentary

with a quick statement.

``I've been lucky,'' he said. ``That's all.''

Coming from a large military family, McGovern was born in

Oceanside, Calif., and raised in several states around the

country--Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Alaska--as his

father was in the military.

The decision to join the military was made by the young

McGovern when he was 16 years old.

``I was ready to get out on my own,'' he said. ``I told [my

father] I wanted to join, and he told me he'd sign for me. I

took all my tests and everything and when I had my 17th

birthday, they flew me out for Fort Carson, Colo.''

McGovern originally wanted to enter the infantry, but was

given the offer to become an Army Ranger and jumped on the

chance.

Once in Florida, McGovern ran into two sergeants--Pierre

and Lehew--who took him under their wing.

``I ran patrols with him for six months at night, and then

doing my job in the daytime. Finally they said I was ready,''

he said. ``So I put in for Ranger school, passed it, and then

they kept me as an instructor. Oh, it was rough. That's

actually probably one of the roughest schools other than

Special Forces.''

Ranger school started with 275, graduated 70, and only 57

had enough points to receive the tab.

After passing Ranger school, the three went to Scuba

school, then Airborne school, then Special Forces school.

Around 50 people were enrolled in Special Forces school.

After its completion, only McGovern, Lehew and one other

person remained.

``I've been lucky,'' he said. ``I would pick out the worst

man, and I'd say, `I'm going to be here longer than him.' And

if he failed out, then I picked the next one. The main thing

with all these hard schools . . . if you set your mind that

you're going to pass it,

you'll pass it. But if you have any doubts, you're going to

fail.''

After training, McGovern went to the 7th Special Forces

group and Lehew, the 5th.

Stationed in Vietnam, at one point, McGovern's unit was

having problems with ambushes, so they called up an

additional force to help. Among them was Lehew.

``Naturally, I wanted to go out with him, but my team

sergeant told me no,'' McGovern said. ``They wanted to keep

me on the airfield with the reserve company.''

A while later, they got a radio call that the team had

walked into an ambush and had one American and a couple

Vietnamese wounded. McGovern asked if they wanted him to come

out, but they declined, saying they were coming back in.

A couple hours later, they received another radio message

that another ambush had hit them, this time with casualties.

McGovern asked again if they wanted him, but they declined,

and asked him to call in helicopters to transport the dead

and wounded.

When the dead and wounded arrived back via helicopter,

McGovern helped unload. Reaching up to grab a boot, he pulled

and found his comrade, Lehew, was one of the dead. After

helping load Lehew into the helicopter, the team sergeant

ordered McGovern to round his company up and go escort the

team back to camp.

That was during his first tour in Vietnam, which lasted

about 13\1/2\ months. Upon returning to the U.S., he became

an instructor in the Special Forces course before

volunteering to go back. This time, he ended up in the

Studies and Observations Group, or SOG.

``The main mission for SOG was . . . you take two or three

Americans and about three or four Vietnamese or Montegnards

and they'd drop us off in North Vietnam, Leose or Cambodia,''

he said. ``And we'd sneak around out there and try and gather

intel or call in air strikes or whatever.''

During his second tour, McGovern shared his wife's, Janet

McGovern, favorite story from his service.

Shortly before heading home, McGovern was asked if he

wanted to run one more mission, which he readily accepted. He

was told to gather a team together and that a helicopter

would arrive in two hours.

``So I got a bunch of MCO's together and we got out there,

and when the helicopters came in, we jumped on and took

off,'' McGovern said. ``Well, the target area was clouded

over so we couldn't get in, so we had to turn around and come

back. They told us to be ready to go the next morning when

the helicopters got there.

The next day, when the helicopter arrived, a Major notified

McGovern that he was taking over. He was taking out a team

that was closer to the target area, so McGovern said, `OK,'

and stood down.

``That afternoon at 1 o'clock, we got a radio message that

they had been shot down and all of them killed,'' McGovern

said.

Following his service, McGovern had a chance to meet up

again with many of the men he served with overseas in Las

Vegas for an SOA reunion. When asked what it's like to see

these guys again, after going through so much with them in

the service, McGovern's response is short and to the point.

``Oh God,'' he laughed. ``Great.''

For those joining the military, McGovern heartily endorses

going through jump school and entering Special Forces . . .

based on one condition.

``If possible, put in for jump school and special forces.

If you're single,'' he said. ``Married men do it, but we had

a 95 percent divorce rate and a 100 percent re-enlistment

rate.''

McGovern's loyalty to his service, and his country, is

unquestionable. Would he do anything differently if he could

go back? ``No.'' What's been his favorite part of his

military career? ``All of it.'' Do you ever miss it? ``Oh

yeah.''

He's not being evasive in the questions . . . for McGovern,

the shortest answer is the most accurate one. And he

absolutely means it.

``You have to really experience it to understand it,'' he

said. ``Unless you're in combat, the rest of it's just like

having a job here in civilian life. You've got your job to

do.''

Dedication . . . it's what's required for military service,

and it's what McGovern has in spades. If he was called up

today, Janet McGovern summed up what the response would be.

``If they called him today and said, `Can you report

tomorrow to do something?' he'd be gone,'' she said. ``And

I'd have to let him go, because that's who he is. That's just

what would happen. That's who he is. He loves his country

more than anything.''

And that's not bragging . . . for McGovern, just like with

his stories, that's just the truth.

I commend John McGovern for his many years of loyalty and service to our great Nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Chuck Lovin, a World War II Navy and Marine veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Chuck Lovin was recognized on Tuesday, July 6. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Chuck Lovin

(By Alexander Hutchins)

When millions of men are mobilized for a war effort, it is

easy to neglect the sheer logistical network needed. Amidst

the brutality of the Pacific island invasions, there were

touches of a more orderly life. At one point in the war,

Charles ``Chuck'' Lovin, 90, was in a foxhole on the Marianas

Islands as Navy Corpsman, providing dental care in the midst

of a marine invasion.

Lovin grew up on a farm, and said that in a way the life of

work was good preparation for his tour in the Navy, and later

the Marines.

``All we did was work, and every day we got up at 4 a.m.''

Lovin said.

Despite the work, he was an avid fan of sports and played

them consistently through his school career. He participated

in track, basketball, tennis and just about everything except

football . . . as long as his chores were completed.

Lovin was a student at Upper Iowa University when World War

II began, studying social studies and physical education. His

goal was to be a coach and make a career out of his passion

for sports.

Lovin was exempt from the draft at the beginning of the war

due to his status as a student, but when he reached the end

of his studies, he enlisted in the Navy. After entering the

Navy in August of 1942, he was trained as a dental technician

before being assigned to the USS Nevada, which had been

damaged in the Pearl Harbor attack but was repaired and

returned to service. Lovin served for one and a half years on

the Nevada, cleaning teeth and providing other dental

services.

``The ship was good duty. There were so many guys on there

it was like living on a city,'' he said.

When the ship was briefly reassigned to the Atlantic

theater, passing through the Panama Canal, the crew took on a

number of American sailors who were suffering from mental

disorders after traumatic tours on submarines. Some of the

sailors were under enough distress that they were restrained

or placed on suicide watch.

``They were calm during the day, but at night, when the

moon would come out, it would get bad,'' Lovin said.

He still remembers today a doctor explaining that many of

the men would return to normal when they returned home, but

some soldiers would suffer difficulties for their remaining

years.

Lovin would clean teeth for the sailors late at night on

the ship as a matter of duty and didn't charge, but small

donations from troops gave Lovin enough money to play poker

and buy necessities. Throughout the war, Lovin saved up a

portion of his pay to buy the ring he would present to his

longtime girlfriend, Lorraine, before they married. The two

were split by the war, but wrote to each other almost every

day. Necessities of war meant that mail arrived in batches

about once a month, and letters were censored. ``I faired a

lot better than some guys who got Dear John letters,'' Lovin

said. Lorraine still has the ring he presented her.

Lovin returned to the U.S. after his tour on the ship and

entered a ten-week training program with the Marine Corps to

prepare him for entering the Fleet Marine Force, or FMF.

``They had a lot of fun, the Marines, taking the Navy guys

and working them over for ten weeks,'' Lovin said jokingly.

He was assigned to the 18th anti-aircraft battalion and

paired with a doctor named Jim Holdt who would become a long-

time friend. Lovin and Holdt worked closely throughout the

invasion of Tinian in the Marianas Islands, initially

providing care to Marines with a foot-cranked dental station

that Lovin carried onto the island with his duty pack.

``My greatest impression was landing with the Marines. I

had this whole pack, plus the medical [equipment] on the

side, and I told the doctor `I don't think I can get over

that rope ladder and down into the water.' He swore at me and

said `you're going to make it, Charlie.' I made it, but the

impressionable thing was all the dead bodies of the Japanese

and even the Marines. You pushed them aside when you made the

landing. When we got in there, by then they had a lot of the

Japanese in corrals and all they wanted was the American

cigarette,'' Lovin said.

``It was your job, and that was it. You just did it, and in

that sense it was like growing up on a farm,'' Lovin said.

``I held sick call and treated all the trench mouth and all

that.''

He treated ailments for the Marines protecting Tinian from

Japanese air attacks after he came aboard the island in one

of the later waves of the invasion.

``Doctor Holdt, that I was with for two years and shared

the same foxhole, he would take over. . . when he would drill

teeth I'd provide the power and clean the teeth at the same

time,'' Lovin said.

Prior to his landing Lovin was on his troop ship when the

initial Marine invasion landed, and could hear the conflict

as the occupation fought to take enough of the island to

allow support troops to move in. He was assigned to patrol

around the major smokestack of his ship while the invasion

occurred, and said he was always fearful that an enemy bomber

would manage to hit the ship while the invasion raged on.

Lovin and Holdt slept on cots under mosquito netting on the

island, and Lovin remembers clearly that Holdt slept with a

.45-caliber pistol.

``I kept saying that one of these days you're going to wake

up from a dream and shoot me,'' Lovin said jokingly.

He worked in trenches and foxholes after initially landing,

and in only a few weeks the engineering corp had built a

facility that Lovin moved into for treating soldiers. He

spoke of helping to unload injured Marines from hospital

ships that had steamed in from Okinawa and other islands once

engineers could build a hospital. Lovin said he always

remembered though some of the soldiers were bandaged, injured

or burned severely they all asked him for cigarettes.

``I always said they ought to pull that ship up to New York

and make the American people go aboard that ship,'' Lovin

said.

Lovin's duties were the same on the battleship and with the

invasion, but the experiences surrounding his work were

vastly different.

``With the Marines there was more of an `esprit de corps,'

because you all depended on the other guy,'' Lovin said.

``Long toward the end of the war I got sent back to go to

officer training school at the University of Pennsylvania,

but the war ended while I was home on leave.''

There was no fanfare for Lovin when the war ended. He was

given his severance pay, boarded a train, and came home.

Because he had earned his degree from Upper Iowa University

before joining the Navy, he was hired as a sports coach in

Rockford, Iowa almost immediately after the war. Lovin said

the days after the war were excellent times for finding work,

as there were so many jobs opening up after soldiers returned

from Europe and the Pacific. He moved to Boone to coach

tennis, basketball and other sports and joined a number of

civic organizations such as the Lion's Club and the American

Legion. ``I'd never been involved in things like that, living

on a farm,'' Lovin said. He and his wife took picnics,

wintered in Arizona for many years and took in the community.

The Lovins eventually met Holdt, the doctor Lovin had

worked with in the war, and the two couples visited each

other in their respective communities.

Lovin encouraged citizens today to do what they can to

understand the importance of the protection the military

provides. Donating care packages or sending correspondence to

troops can make a big difference, he said.

Much of Lovin's time is now taken by visiting numerous

class reunions for all of the years he worked in the Boone

schools. His legacy is displayed in the pictures of his

children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren on a wall in

his home and in the years of school classes he receives

invitations for reunions from.

I commend Chuck Lovin for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize David Mondt, a World War II Army Air Corps and National Guard veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. David Mondt was recognized on Tuesday, June 29. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: David Mondt

(By Alexander Hutchins)

At 21 years of age, many kids are still wet behind the ears

and trying to carve out a living for themselves. When David

Mondt was 22, he was flying nighttime raids to drop

paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne into the battlefields of

Europe.

Mondt, 87, previously a first lieutenant in the Army Air

Corps during World War II, was born in Boone and has lived in

the community nearly his entire life. He lived in Perry for a

year in his childhood, at which time he was hit by a Hawkeye

Laundry truck. No lasting injuries resulted from the

accident, but Mondt soon returned to Boone and continued his

education.

``The biggest thing was getting a bicycle, which I

eventually did,'' Mondt said of the most significant part of

his childhood.

When World War II began, Mondt watched the Iowa National

Guard mobilize and head to Louisiana.

``Then they started the draft, and I didn't want to wait

for that, so I joined the Air Force,'' he said.

Mondt began training to be an Army Air Corps mechanic when

he first joined, as pilot training was only available to

soldiers 21 and older. While in mechanic training, the age

requirements for pilot training were lowered, and Mondt, then

18, applied and was accepted into program. He went into the

pilot school in Texas, and mere days before graduating the

program was scrapped and modified to the Flight Officer

Program.

``In one day, November the 10th, 1942, I was a Private, a

Staff Sergeant and a flight officer in a matter of hours,''

Mondt said.

Mondt was eventually placed with the 62nd Troop Carrier

Squadron, men with whom he would fly for the rest of the war.

Every man in the squadron would return home alive at the

war's conclusion.

The squadron flew mostly day-to-day supply and troop

transport missions. Mondt flew a C-47 Skytrain cargo plane

for the entirety of the war, and said he missed a pre-D-Day

appearance by General Eisenhower because he was running a

load of supplies. Mondt originally flew runs in North Africa,

then as part of the American invasion of Italy where he

dropped paratroopers on Sicily.

After the fascist collapse in Italy, Mondt was sent to

England and prepared for the D-Day invasion. Mondt would drop

members of the 82nd Airborne in the now-famous invasion of

Europe, and in the nighttime raid the C-47s received enemy

fire, but managed to deploy the paratroopers successfully.

``Everything was fine, as long as you were over England or

over the water. When we hit the coast of France we started

receiving fire from the Germans,'' Mondt said. One plane from

the squadron was shot down, but the crew survived.

Mondt's plane would return from the mission, but it was hit

by anti-aircraft fire. All the windows were blown out and

Mondt was hit by the shrapnel flying about the cabin. Mondt

received the Purple Heart for his injury, although he would

carry pieces of shrapnel in his back for years.

Despite all the events conspiring around him that would

become critical to world history, Mondt said that in the end

the daily activities were orderly and regimented.

``Whatever they told you to do, you did,'' Mondt said. ``It

was really just an everyday occurrence. When you weren't

dropping paratroopers, you were hauling supplies to frontline

troops.''

Mondt flew British and Polish soldiers into the Battle of

Arnhem, but toward the end of the war more flights were

daytime operations. Mondt said that after crossing the Rhine

River, there were hardly any German air forces left. The

planes had all been bombed at the airfields by the Army Air

Corps.

``If you got back from the flight, you got a place to

sleep, and it was warm, and [you got] good food. The ground

troops ate out of mess kits. We never did,'' Mondt said.

When he returned to the U.S. after his tour of duty, he was

offered a chance to leave the Air Corps while in St. Louis.

Mondt accepted and returned to Iowa. He didn't spend long out

of an airplane, however, as he joined the Army Aviation of

the National Guard upon returning to Boone. He would fly

aircraft with the National Guard, including helicopter

training in Texas, and would serve in the Guard until the age

of 60. At one point Mondt was told the Army would be

decommissioning all of its planes for helicopters, but he

never heard what came of that plan.

Life was normal after the war. Mondt sold insurance when he

wasn't on Guard duty, and he married his wife, Yvonna. They

raised four children and lived a quiet life.

``Mowing grass,'' Mondt said jokingly when asked what he

did for a hobby while living in Boone. Mondt said the war had

little permanent effect on him, as his outlook on life after

the war was similar to his outlook on life before the

conflict.

``It [the war] hasn't affected me at all, as far as I can

recall,'' Mondt said. Beginning in 1951 his squadron from the

war began holding reunions, and the original gathering had 41

participants. Though the numbers have dwindled, Mondt still

attends reunion functions for the war.

I commend David Mondt for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Clyde ``Bill'' Neely, a World War II Army Air Corps veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Clyde ``Bill'' Neely was recognized on Tuesday, July 13. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Clyde ``Bill'' Neely

(By Alexander Hutchins)

Clyde ``Bill'' Neely, 86, a former Army Air Corps Sergeant,

lives a full life. He resides today in his childhood home,

and what was once an attached grocery store is now a personal

museum to his life's achievements.

Neely served in the Boone Fire Department after the war,

drawing strength from the same discipline he called upon when

he served in the Army Air Corps in World War II.

Neely was born in Boone in 1924 in a house across the

street from his current residence. He graduated from high

school and played sports in the community. Neely met his wife

Florence while still in high school. They would marry in

1943, and he would be one of the few married men in his unit.

``I had a real excellent childhood. In fact, I've had an

excellent life,'' Neely said with a smile.

His father was a butcher who ran a grocery out of the house

that the Neely's now reside in. Neely would run the grocery

for several years when he returned from the war, though he

would eventually close the store and join the fire

department.

Neely's role in the war began in 1943.

``Originally I started right after I got out of school,

because we knew after Pearl Harbor that our life was going to

be in the military,'' Neely said.

He had wanted to train in a nearby military Ferry School to

ship airplanes overseas for the war effort, but the program

was cancelled before Neely entered the Army. He then enlisted

in the Air Corps in Des Moines and attended basic training in

Miami, Florida. Neely's older brother, Noel, was one of four

Boone men he trained with.

``Like I said, I've had good luck all the way through my

life,'' Neely said.

Neely's eyesight kept him from being trained as a pilot,

but he entered the Armament service and trained to maintain

and repair weapons, as well as load bombs and cargo on the B-

24 bombers his unit flew. He would serve part of the war in

the U.S. before being stationed in Aldborough, England.

Part of Neely's early duty in the war was in training other

Air Corpsmen in the U.S.

``We used to train aerial gunners with a .50 caliber

machine gun. We'd start them out with pistols and rifles and

work them up to their machine guns. Then, when they went into

advanced training, we'd put a big sleeve on behind a tow

plane and we'd take all the bullets they would use and put

different colors of paraffin on them so when the bullet went

through the sleeve it left a color. That's a way we could

identify just how many of the gunners could hit their

targets,'' Neely said.

When Neely was stationed in England, he worked in Armament

to load the B-24 bombers for missions. His unit, the 8th Air

Corps, included Neely's Commanding Officer as the youngest

Colonel in the Air Corp and the actor Jimmy Stewart as an

operations officer. The ground crew could tell from the bomb

and fuel loads where the planes would be flying, and Neely

said the crew would always ``sweat out'' the flights while

the bombers were away. The 8th Air Corps had more casualties

per unit than any other branch of the service, Neely said.

``From D-day until we won supremacy of the air over there,

we were loading out two or three missions a day,'' he said.

Neely's first experience upon arriving in England was

hearing an Axis Sally radio broadcast that promised the

German air force would ``pay them a visit.'' The base was

bombed that night, and after that engagement drone bombs

would sometimes zip over the base bound for targets further

into England.

``People forget how smart the Germans were,'' Neely said.

At the end of the war, Neely and the 8th Air Corps were

assigned to pack up equipment and prepare to deploy to the

pacific theater. That redeployment was thankfully unnecessary

and Neely was released from the Air Corps while on duty in

California.

Neely returned home and ran the family grocery store, but

after marrying his wife Florence and starting a family he was

informed of an open position on the Boone Fire Department in

1951. He would serve a career with the Boone Fire Department

until retirement in 1984. He also coached baseball for almost

20 years. When a drowning occurred at Ledges State Park,

Neely was instrumental in one of the first underwater rescue

teams in the state. He and Florence would raise three sons:

Allen, Richard and Ronald (who has since passed away).

Neely attributed much of his success in the fire department

to the attitude and discipline he acquired as a result of his

service.

``People don't realize it, but your fire department to be

exact, or your police department, have to be partially

military,'' Neely said.

His training also helped him learn to control his temper,

restraining a tendency he had to ``fight at the drop of a

hat'' in his younger days.

Neely said he has no real regrets from his time in the war.

``I did it. I'd do it again,'' Neely said. ``The nation came

together in a rare way, and everyone did their part in that

time.''

He did say that modern wars are a different enterprise, as

soldiers today aren't able to trust the people around them.

``A fight is one thing, but that's not a fight,'' Neely

said. One of the important things to do, he said, was to

thank veterans when the opportunity is available.

Neely has previously served as grand marshal in Boone

parades, and a memorial to his son, Ronald, sits in the

current fire station, commemorating his years of service.

I commend Clyde ``Bill'' Neely for his many years of

loyalty and service to our great Nation. It is an immense

honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I

wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize John Harrison, a World War II Army veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. John Harrison was recognized on Tuesday, July 20. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: John Harrison

(By Alexander Hutchins)

John Harrison, 84, a former Army Staff Sergeant, was raised

on a farm south of Perry in the midst of the depression.

``Back in those days we were just coming out of the

depression, and we didn't have anything, but we had plenty to

eat,'' said Harrison.

He worked throughout his youth and contributed to his

family's income in tough times. This spirit of hard work and

the necessity of duty would shape his life as much as his

time in the Army during World War II.

Harrison spent much of his youth working on the family farm

and for other farmers in the area.

``I vividly remember the summer of 1936, when we'd throw a

mattress out under the shade tree in the yard and just hope

and pray for a little breeze,'' Harrison said.

He trained in carpentry in high school, a skill that he

would employ in a brief career after the war. He married his

first wife, Betty, before joining the service, though she has

since passed away.

Harrison was inducted into the Army in September of 1944,

took his basic training at Fort Hood, Texas, and went

overseas in January of 1945.

``I was on the island of Saipan until they got a convoy

together, then we went to Okinawa,'' Harrison said.

When deploying to the island, the sister ship of Harrison's

vessel was hit by a Kamikaze pilot. The soldier above

Harrison on the rope dropped his rifle, and Harrison would

sport the dent in his helmet for the rest of his time in the

service.

He served with the 34th Combat Engineers, primarily

building Bailey Bridges and other infrastructure, but did

fire and was fired upon by Japanese forces.

``I do remember when we were moving forward we would see

trucks going by carrying dead soldiers,'' Harrison said.

``[They] had new combat boots on that didn't even have

mud on them yet. We lost a lot of men there.''

``Then as soon as the war ended in Okinawa, they loaded us

on LST's and they took us to Korea. We went in on the west

side at a place called Inchon. They loaded us on a narrow-

gage railway train, and every little hill that we'd go up,

we'd have to get out and help push the train,'' Harrison

said.

His unit, now the 42nd Engineering Construction Battalion,

was deployed near Seoul, Korea, in late August, 1945, to help

build the Temple Airfield.

``I remember the first time I went up the streets of Seoul,

you could go across the Han river and look straight ahead to

the capitol and it looked like a beautiful city, and from the

front side of the street it did, but you'd go around the back

to the alleys and maybe a cow or a pig would be sticking its

head out the window,'' Harrison said.

He was in Korea until July, 1946. He earned a bronze battle

star, three overseas service bars, an Asiatic/Pacific Theater

ribbon, a victory medal, an army of occupation medal and a

good conduct medal.

``When I came home from the service, first I worked [to]

help building Quonset huts for the veterans over at Iowa

State College,'' Harrison said. ``Then I went to work for

Otis lumber yard, doing carpentry work. I did that until

1956, and then I went on the fire department.''

Harrison would spend 28 years with the fire department, and

in 1985 he began working at the county courthouse as Director

of Veteran's Affairs for 20 years. When working as a

carpenter, Harrison helped build 16 new homes in Boone.

``Growing up, everyone worked, so I always did work. If I

were younger I'd still work today. That was drilled into me

when I was a young kid, that if you wanted something out of

life you had to work for it and I still feel that way

today,'' Harrison said.

Harrison has undergone knee replacement surgery, but stays

active and walks each day. He has a daughter living in Boone,

two sons, seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Harrison said he has no significant regrets from his time

in the Army, and he appreciates accoutrements for veterans

such as VA hospitals.

``Back in those days, you knew when it came your time to go

into the service and you were old enough, you went. You just

didn't make a fuss about it,'' he said.

Harrison said he feels remorse for soldiers from the

current conflict, facing a war that is so different from the

one he participated in.

``I wish all the young men and women in the service the

best,'' Harrison said.

People today are fairly savvy to modern wars, he said, and

modern soldiers thankfully have the option to remain in

contact with family and friends without relying on censored

mail, as was the case in World War II.

Harrison will board an Honor Flight next month on August

19, and will visit the World War II Memorial in Washington,

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Louis Wolfgram, a Vietnam War Army and National Guard veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Louis Wolfgram was recognized on Tuesday, June 22. Below is the article in its entirety:

Boone County Veterans: Louis Wolfgram

(By Alexander Hutchins)

Louis Wolfgram, 60, Command Sergeant Major (retired) of the

Iowa National Guard, has recently returned to State Active

duty on Retiree Recall after retiring on his 60th birthday

June ninth.

Wolfgram was born in Sumner, Iowa to a family with nine

children. His father had served in the Army Air Corps in

World War II, but Wolfgram was the only child out of his

eight siblings that served in the military. Wolfgram's father

owned a grocery store in Sumner.

``He saw the writing on the wall that the small-town

grocery was going to disappear and went into insurance,''

Wolfgram said. The family moved to Jefferson, Iowa and then

Boone. In 1968 Wolfgram graduated Ryan High School.

One year later, in 1969, he was drafted.

On January 28 of 1970 Wolfgram went on Active Duty and

proceeded to receive training in accounting and stock control

after a stint in Fort Des Moines, Fort Lewis and Fort Lee.

After being trained to do both manual and mechanical

accounting (using computers he described as half the size of

a table) he received two weeks leave and then deployed to

Vietnam.

Wolfgram received his choice of specialty in the Army, but

in exchange for his preference in duty he made a three-year

commitment to the Army rather than the standard two. Wolfgram

served for 18 months in Vietnam at a large supply post in a

rear area of Vietnam.

``I was a logistician,'' he said. ``We pulled perimeter

guard and did sweeps in the morning. I wasn't out beating the

bush like the infantry guys were.''

When he returned from two years in Vietnam, Wolfgram was

offered the option of serving a year at Fort Hood, a year in

Germany or leaving the Army a year early. Wolfgram took the

option to leave the service, but says now he regrets not

joining the National Guard immediately after leaving the

Army.

``I was out for about five years,'' Wolfgram said, and

during this time he worked for John Deere.

In October of 1977 he joined the National Guard, where he

is still serving after his retirement.

Wolfgram said some of his fondest experiences are his

travels throughout the U.S. and to Norway, Japan and Korea.

He has been working full-time in the National Guard since

1986.

``The floods of '93 were a real, major event, just with all

the manpower the guard put out there and the situations that

we put our soldiers in that could have been catastrophic,''

Wolfgram said.

He served as the Task Force Command Sergeant Major for the

National Guard in Des Moines at the time of the flood and was

impressed by how lucky the soldiers were in all the dangerous

work they did fighting the flood.

Wolfgram said he was especially proud of the work he did

with the Iowa Military Academy and the opportunities he has

received through the academy to train younger soldiers in

leadership roles. Wolfgram served two years as the Enlisted

Senior Instructor for the Academy.

``That was a fruitful time in my career,'' he said.

Wolfgram was also assigned for 14 years in the Boone Army

National Guard base as a supply and food service

administrator.

``You see a lot of happy faces when guys get good chow,''

he said with a laugh.

Before his retirement, Wolfgram was serving as an enlisted

advisor to the Judge Adjutant General of the Iowa Guard,

advising the commander of the Iowa Guard on meeting the needs

of the soldiers.

In 1990 Wolfgram earned his degree in business and

accounting, partly due to the credits he earned while serving

in the Guard. He said he appreciated his education and all

the opportunities he received to work with his leadership

skills.

``One thing I regret is not joining the guard immediately

after leaving active duty, and the other is that I didn't get

to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan,'' he said. ``Some people

would say `You're nuts for wanting to do that,' but it's part

of what you swore in for and signed up for.''

He said it is important to remember that many soldiers do

not deploy, and he is always impressed working with combat

veterans of previous eras.

For the past ten years Wolfgram has worked on the military

funerals honor team, work that has given him tremendous

respect for the men and women who deploy overseas.

Wolfgram was most impressed with how well prepared and

supported the soldiers of today are, something he is acutely

aware of after his time in Vietnam. He and his wife currently

care for two of their grandchildren, and he said he will

enjoy taking them out boating this summer, as well as finally

being able to grow a beard.

I commend Louis Wolfgram for his many years of loyalty and service to our great Nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize John Miles, a Korean War Army Veteran from Boone County, Iowa, and to express my appreciation for his dedication and commitment to his country.

The Boone News Republican is currently running a series of articles that honors one Boone County veteran every Tuesday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. John Miles was recognized on Tuesday, June 15. Below is the article in its entirety:

[From The Boone News Republican, June 15, 2010]

Boone County Veterans: John Miles

(By Alexander Hutchins)

``That was a cold place over there. Cold, cold, cold,''

John Miles, 82, said of his time in the Korean War.

Miles has lived in Boone his entire life and worked for 36

years as a railroad dispatcher. He graduated from Boone High

School and the local junior college, and a history of

participating in warfare was in his family. Miles had four

older brothers, each of whom served in World War II and

returned home safely. Miles joined the Army in 1950, and

returned from the Korean War with a Purple Heart and a Bronze

Star to eventually married and have two sons.

``The Miles'' lucked out,'' he joked.

When Miles enlisted in 1950, he was trained at Fort

Leonardwood, in Missouri, and was assigned to the 40th

division of the 160th infantry. He became a combat medic, and

routinely entered the field to tend to wounded soldiers while

under fire.

``The Chinese could put artillery shells in your back

pocket,'' Miles said. No matter the enemy resistance Miles

tended to the wounded, and resistance varied greatly from day

to day. ``When you're a medic, you go no

matter what. When guys are getting shot at, that's why you're

there,'' he said.

Miles described living in bunkers while in Korea--large

holes excavated in the earth that were lined with timber

posts. Miles knew all the men he served with and said he

always loved the camaraderie with his fellow soldiers.

``War is hell to be in, but it was a good experience,''

Miles said. ``I'd do it again if I had to.''

He said the thing he appreciated the most was the

friendship he had with the men he served with, despite the

frigid and deadly conditions. He spoke of one friend who

never returned--a soldier who the army failed to find after a

search and is still listed as missing.

After being in the country for six months, Miles was in the

field tending to two wounded soldiers when a shell exploded

nearby. Miles was hit with shrapnel and wounded. He was

rescued from the field by jeep and then flown by helicopter

to the USS Consolation hospital ship. He stayed on the ship

for six months until he was able to walk again and returned

home. He was awarded his Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his

service.

Miles returned to Boone and the railroad. Despite the

hardship of the war, Miles said he eventually returned to an

ordinary life.

``When I first got home, I couldn't go to a movie because I

was too jittery,'' he said of films with gunfire or war

movies. Later his tension abated and he was able to pursue

all his social activities. Miles is an avid fan of sports who

often swam at the public pool and played tennis and baseball

in an adult league at the city park.

At 35, Miles married school classmate Lois Huffman, who has

since passed away, and the couple had two sons, Lane and

Lynn. Miles says he responds to the conflicts in the world

today as anyone else probably would. ``It works out of your

system,'' Miles said of the trauma he felt in the war. ``I

lived a regular life when I got home. It was different for a

while, but you get used to it again.''

Miles said that many veterans returning home aren't

respected as they should be. He said he supports providing

higher education to veterans to help them get professional

jobs. ``I'm a veteran, but there are veterans who come home

who aren't treated the way they should be,'' Miles said.

I commend John Miles for his many years of loyalty and service to our great nation. It is an immense honor to represent him in the United States Congress, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Mae Lillian Mitchell of Boone, Iowa, on the recent celebration of her 100th birthday on August 26, 2010.

Mae was born on August 26, 1910 in Keystone, Iowa. In 1944, she married Raymond B. Mitchell and they were together until his death, when he was ninety-one years old. They have two children, Lois and David; and have two grandchildren, Melissa and Andy. Mae is currently residing at the Evangelical Free Church Home in Boone, Iowa. She maintains an extensive collection of poetry and a collection of antique porcelain dolls.

There have been many changes that have occurred during the past one hundred years. Since Mae's birth we have revolutionized air travel and walked on the moon. We have invented the television and the Internet. We have fought in wars overseas, seen the rise and fall of Soviet communism and the birth of new democracies. Mae has lived through eighteen United States Presidents and twenty-two Governors of Iowa. In her lifetime, the population of the United States has more than tripled.

I know that my colleagues in the United States Congress join me in sending warm wishes to Mae on the milestone of her 100th birthday. I am extremely honored to represent her in Congress, and I wish her happiness and health for many more years to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a great achievement by Dustin Smith of Decorah, Iowa. He was named overall high point individual in his age division at the 2010 National Junior Shorthorn Show and Youth Conference in East Lansing, Michigan.

The annual National Junior Shorthorn Show and Youth Conference, which was founded in 1981, is a weeklong event full of contests and educational activities. More than 300 junior shorthorn enthusiasts from 24 states competed in this year's conference. Dustin Smith accumulated the points from first place showings in his division in three categories: the arts and crafts contest, the livestock judging contest and the team fitting contest.

The example set by Dustin demonstrates the rewards of hard work, dedication and determination. His triumph is an honor that we all can admire and be proud of.

I am honored to represent Dustin Smith in the United States Congress. I know that my colleagues join me in congratulating Dustin and wishing him continued success in his future endeavors.