korea, and in the battle congressman rangel was part that was trapped and attacked by chinese army. during that attack he was injured in the back by shrapnel from a chinese shell. in subzero weather, members of the 503 battalion looked at mr. rangel, then a private first class, for his leadership. during three days of freezing weather he led approximately 40 men from his unit out of the chinese encircledment. congressman rangel commented, and i quote, that was just the coldest place ever in the whole world. we lost a lot of guys who died in their sleeping bags, end of quote. nearly half were killed in the overall battle. and might i mention, madam speaker, a battalion is composed of about 600 soldiers. so you can imagine that 50% of the 503 battalion were killed in the korean war. congressman rangel was later

recognized for his courage and awarded a purple heart for his wounds and the bronze star with valor for his heroic efforts. in addition he was awarded the presidential unit citation and three battle stars. summing up his experience, madam speaker, congressman rangel once said, and i quote, since, and i mean with all my heart, i have never, never had a bad day. end of quote. might also note, madam speaker, congressman john conyers from michigan served for two years in the michigan national guard starting in 1950, with the onset of the korean war he joined the u.s. army and fought for one year as a second lieutenant in the u.s. army corps of engineers. for his service he was awarded both combat and merit citations. our good friend and colleague, congressman sam johnson, began his 29-year career in the u.s. air force at the early age of 20. during the korean war he was

stationed just 25 miles away from the frontlines and flew 62 combat missions in his f-86 sabre jet fighter. his plane was called shirleyy's texas tornado, named after his tear wife. conchman johnson scored one probably kill and one damaged. he flew on combat missions with buzz aldrin and john glenn and when he downed a russian make, he was so low on fuel he to glide back to seoul. he went on to continue his outstanding military career through the vietnam war as director of the air force fighter weapons school known as "top gun," and was one of the two authors of the air tactics manual resolutioning -- revolutionizing air dominance. our good friend, conman howard coble, meanwhile served as a coast guard from september 1952 until september 1956 and was

deployed to the korean waters during the war. i ask all of my colleagues to join me in honoring the sacrifices of these gentlemen, our colleagues, congressman rangel, congressman conyers, congressman johnson and congressman coble and the sacrifices of all the other 1.8 million americans who fought in the korean war as well as in recognizing the vital importance of u.s.-korea alliance by supporting this resolution and also noting as a matter of history, madam chairman, that over 30,000 of our soldiers died from that terrible conflict in south korea. madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from arkansas, mr. boozman, is recognized. mr. boozman: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he might consume. mr. boozman: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of this measure and would like to thank the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel, a distinguished veteran of the korean war, for

introducing it. and we truly do appreciate your service to our country. next week on june 25, represents the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the korean war. the lesson of korea is the need for constant vinl lens in the face of ex -- vigilance in the face of external aggression. many late kim il sung's decisions to attack the republic of korea in the early morning hours of a rainy sunday morning, to mix signals coming from washington. for then secretary of state had declared only a few months before that south korea lay outside the defense perimeter of the united states. north korean dictator reportedly took that as a green light to move forward with his invasion plans. this invasion resulted in between one million and 10 million korean dead and over 50,000 dead and more than 90,000 wounded members of the u.s.

military. the lesson of june 25 is clear, do not equivocate with agressers, do not pandser to dictators. harry truman, in notifying the american people of this decision to deploy u.s. forces to korea, stated that north korea in solidarity with its communist allies has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations. 60 years later, as north korea engages in further armed aggression by deliberately torpedoing a south korean naval vessel and murdering 46 south korean sailors, it is clear that the united states and its allies must act with firm resolve to prevent an escalation of