i have been thinking about the worts of one of the brave patriots. he is the son and grandson of military leaders. when his time came, he too went to war and suffered excruciating injuries. he said when wars are fought, quote, a million tragedies ensue. war is retch retched -- retched beyond description. those are the words of a man i'm privileged to call a colleague and friend, the senior senator from arizona, john mccain. we owe him and all of our nation's veterans and their families our respect for their courage, sacrifice and hardships that they endured for all of us. senator mccain endured more than 5 naf naf years as torture as a prisoner of war during the vietnam conflict. he when -- when he finally came whom he found another way to serve our nation with honor. we thank him for that. this week the united states congress dedicated a chair to honor all americans held as prisoners of war and those who remain in missing in action. that will stand as a solemn reminder of the service members who were miss pg for years in -- missing for years in captivity. as we prepare to celebrate veterans day, i want to tell you about another veteran, another patriot who was a prisoner of war. his war was world war ii. like senator mccain, he survived, came home, married, raised a family. his name is richard lockhart. everybody calls him dick lockhart. he's 93 years old. almost 94. he's a lobbyist in springfield, illinois. he doesn't represent the big moneyed interests. he represents the little guys, the nonprofit groups, the public workers, mental health providers and the families who need him, among others. he is the senior practicing lobbyist in illinois, maybe all of america. he will give up that title soon because on december 31, dick lockhart is requiring at this age of 93 from the firm he founded 60 years ago. he's not stepping down because he's tired. he still works seven days a week, most weeks. he's still physically strong and sharp as a tack mentally. he says he wants to travel more and write the book he's always wanted to write, explaining to ordinary citizens how to make the government work better. his life would make a fascinating book. born in ohio as an only child his family moved to indiana when he was young. the great depression hit his family hard, his dad lost his job, the family never owned a car, never took a vacation, never ate a meal in a restaurant. dick delivered newspapers an worked as a soda jerk during high school to pay for expenses. he was a student at purdue when japan bombed pearl harbor, one year he enlisted in the u.s. army. he was assigned to the army's 1 off 6th division, the golden lions in october they shipped out to england. they arrived in a quiet area of southeastern belgium near the military border. military higher ups said that germany would probably surrender before christmas. history had another plan. in the predawn hours of decembes launched their last major offenses of the war, the battle of the bulge. the u.s. forces were outnumbed. lockhart's rej imrment fought for days. finally, out of food, water, ammunition, they surrendered. some 8,000 soldiers were capture at the battle of the bulge. packed into railroad box cars, soldiers had to take turns sitting and standing. they were in the box cars two days traveling to a prisoner war camp in germany. medical care was nonexistent, men dying every day, meals consisted only of thin grass soup. on one bitterly cold day dick lockhart was beaten savagely by a prison guard, he still experiences pain from the beating. one memory haunts him. one day the prison guards asked if in were any jewish prisoners of war and asked them to identify themselves. for several hours no one stepped forward. german american soldiers began to step forward apparently thinking that their citizenship would protect them. they were wrong. they were shipped off to a notoriously hard-labor camp. when dick lockhart turned 21 while a prisoner of war. american soldiers liberated the camp and dick lockhart was sent home on on a 60-day furlough. he arrived at home in fort wayne, knocked on the door and was stunned to see a stranger open the door. months before his parents received a cable saying that their only child was missing in war and presumed dead. his mother moved to ohio, his father moved away to look for another factory job. fortunately dick found them soon and reunited with his parents. a month later while still on leave, germany finally surrendered. the war was finally over. dick always loved chicago, decided to use his g.i. bill to go to northwest. he married two children a, a son and daughter. in 1958 he founded this lobbying firm to try to advance democracy through good policy and war rather than tanks and bomb. he is honest, hardworking, modest, empathetic, always an optimist. he's earned the respect of both sides of the aisle for decades of ethical and professional service in the general assembly. laws he helped to pass has made life better for countless people in my state. in recognition of that fact the illinois general assembly voted december 31, dick's last day onn the job, as richard lockhart day in the state of illinois. five days after dick lockhart and others were captured, americans won the battle of the bulge. two years ago as part of the 70th anniversary of that event, dick lockhart returned to belgium. the children and grandchildren-those who were liberated greeted their american hero. he was given royal treatment he and all the american soldiers richly deserved. when dick speaks about his experience as a soldier, he is never a hero of any story. he row reserves -- he reserves that for the young men who didn't come home. he said there is an inscription that reads, when you go home, tell them about us and for your tomorrow we gave them today. i have to say that dick lockhart is an american hero. this veterans day we say to him and all the american veterans, thank you for your service. thank you for our freedom. thank you for all the tomorrows you purchased for us with your courage and sacrifice. mr. president, i yield the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr.sullivan: mr. president, i have five requests for comoats to meet during -- committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr.sullivan: mr. president, as you know, i have been coming to the floor of the senate pretty much every week for months after months after months to highlight somebody we call the alaskan of the week, somebody who does something important feertsdz their community -- for either the community, the state, or the country and oftentimes they don't get a lot of recognition. and the reason is to come down and say look at what these people are doing for alaska and for their community. my state is known for many things, our physical beauty, adventuresome spirit, size. you don't want me going there. i have a difficult conversation with my colleagues from texas on occasion about the difference sizes of our respective states, but i won't go into details there. these are all things that we have in alaskan space, but the thing that really makes us such a great place to live is our people, strong, resilient, kind people all across our state who look out for each other, often in harsh weather conditions. and, mr. president, we're a patriotic state. now i know everybody here claims that, and that's great. we all are. nowhere is the spirit of sacrifice and patriotism more apparent than in our veterans across the state, in alaska, in missouri, the presiding officer's state. and we are all celebrating that and we're going to celebrate this weekend going home for veterans day. now, in alaska, we like to talk about our veterans, we also like to talk about the fact that we have more veterans per capita than any other state in the country, so a very patriotic place full of service in every city, village, every community across alaska you will find proud veterans, many of them working tirelessly together to make sure they get the help and support that our veterans need. a lot of times that happens with the older vets, vietnam era vets coming to make sure that the into your vets get the help they need. to all of them i salute your service, your sacrifice. thank you so much for all you've done and continue to do for our country. happy veterans day to all of alaska's veterans. i can't wait to get home and sell brait in fair -- and celebrate in fairbanks and alaska. it is not just veterans day that is approaching, we are also celebrating alaska heritage month, where there is much to celebrate. in my state almost 20% of the population in my great state are alaska natives. this is a group of people, generation after generation, what i call have a special patriotism -- a special patriotism. what do i mean by that? well, alaska natives serve at higher rates in the military, just like lower 48 native americans, higher rates in the military than any other ethnic group in the country. and this has been going on for generations, world war ii, korea, vietnam, the cold war, iraq, afghanistan. and, you know, when you think about it, it's special. because, let's face it, in the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, and sometimes even today the federal government has not always treated alaska native people well, and yet generation after generation, off to the front to fight for this country. it is truly a special kind of patriotism in a unique tribute to the alaska native heritage that we're celebrating this month. so i thought it was fitting today, mr. president, to name as our alaskan of the week to make it a collective for all alaska natives who have served their country in the military, and it's thousands, to make them collectively the alaskans of the week as we look to celebrate veterans day. now, mr. president, a little bit of history, and i know you know this, but a lot of americans don't. during world war ii alaska was the only state in the union to be invaded and occupied by the japanese. invaded and occupied. so we had big military battles in the alutia island chain of alaska to throw off the invaders of our american territory. thousands of alaska natives volunteered to protect their homeland and to defend their country overseas, across the state, whether they were in the alaska territorial guard, warriors overseas, code talkers who served with the marines and others many they were as old as 80 and as young as 12. now, this is a great story. it shows the warrior ethic. alaska native women, after the outbreak of world war ii, even originally enrolled in the alaska territorial guard before they realized that women weren't allowed to enroll, and, in fact, the best sharpshooterrer in alaska's -- sharpshooterrer was a woman named sarah bellswright. this is how an alaska marine put it in 1968 at the height of the vietnam war when he was testifying in front of the united states congress on a very important piece of legislation called the alaska native claim settlement act. he was the president of the arctic native brother hood, and as i mentioned, a proud marine. in front of a bunch of senators he associated, as follows, we have showed our patriotism as proudly as any americans on earth. we have answered the call of duty with pride in serving our country. we answered the call in world war ii 100%. every man in every village, old and young, volunteered with the alaska national guard. remember, this was in 1968 he was testifying. then he said i have never heard of an alaska native burning the draft card or burning our nation's flag. we are patriots. now, mr. president, that service, as i mentioned, didn't end after world war ii. alaska natives have served in every conflict, the korean war and in droves during the vietnam war. i was honored to be in southeast alaska this past summer in a native village called huna, beautiful place. there was a documentary that i saw recently that documented the classes in 1968, 1969 in that small native village in a film called "hunting in wartime." it was about how almost every single male high school student in huna, every one went to go fight in vietnam. incredible. special patriotism. mr. president, let me tell you a quick more up-to-date story. we had the secretary of interior, ryan zinke, combat vet, navy seal, heroic man himself and i asked him to come meet with a bunch of alaska native veterans who had an issue that the department of interior has been working on for years and i wanted him to hear about it firsthand. it was a very touching meeting. some in the room talked about how it was like to be in their villages, places they never left when they were 17 and 18 and 19 and then a few days later in ta steamy jungle thousands and thousands of miles away in vietnam. some talked about what it was like coming back and not feeling like they had the support of their country. others talked about the difficult -- the difficulty of readjusting to life back in alaska after their service in vietnam. and some of the discrimination that they received when they came back home. but even though they went through this hardship, even though they went some of these very difficult times in the late 1960's and early 1970's, not one of them said that they had made a mistake in serving their country. they were proud patriotic warriors and to this day that's what they were -- that's what they are. secretary zinke said after he left that meeting, he began it as their secretary of interior. he left as a brother in arms. so, mr. president, i'm so honored to be able to serve these great alaskans and to celebrate them as our alaskans of the week, just like i know everybody in america is going to be proud to go home and celebrate with their veterans. so once again to our alas can native -- alaskan native veterans, thank you what you've without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, with veterans day approaching i want to recognize the life, service, and heroism of jack henley

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