December 5, 2011 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8181 the glass. That speaks a lot about the During the Second World War, Mr. physicists Karl Wirtz, Erich Bagge and character of the officer about whom we Augustine was selected to join an elite Carl von Weizsacker. are speaking today. detachment of linguists, spies and sci- Robert Norris, author of the 2003 Mr. President, we both extend our entists by COL Boris Pash, who headed book Racing for the Bomb: General heartfelt thanks to GEN Pete Chiarelli, a mission code-named Alsos. This mis- Leslie R. Groves, the Manhattan to his wife Beth, and to his children sion was led by LTG Leslie R. Groves Project’s Indispensable Man, noted and their families for their lifetime of under the Manhattan Project. Groves that ‘‘Alsos was one of the most suc- service to the Nation. Words cannot suspected German physicists were en- cessful intelligence operations of the characterize properly the extraor- gaging in a similar nuclear program war.’’ dinary character of General Chiarelli’s and feared that they would complete a Reginald was promoted to the rank accomplishments. bomb first. The Alsos mission was of captain by the end of the war. He The Nation thanks him and wishes tasked with determining whether the was decorated for his service, including him success and happiness in all his fu- Nazis had developed an atomic bomb. the Bronze Star and Order of the Brit- ture endeavors. Mission operatives moved into newly ish Empire, which he received person- f liberated areas just behind advancing ally from King George VI. Allied lines to find Nazi scientists, cap- After the war, he continued to serve HONORING REGINALD COOPER his country for over two decades as a AUGUSTINE, JR. ture and interrogate them, as well as confiscate and secure stocks of refined member of the Central Intelligence Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I rise in uranium that were urgently needed by Agency. This included postings in Mu- tribute to an American hero and Illi- the Manhattan Project. nich and Frankfurt during the 1950s nois resident who was laid to rest at Reginald was selected as an ideal and 60s, and to Saigon in 1968. Arlington National Cemetery on De- candidate and put in charge of field op- Reginald Augustine passed away on cember 2. erations for this elite detachment be- June 30 at the age of 97 and will be laid Reginald Cooper Augustine, Jr. was cause of his knowledge of French and to rest today at Arlington Cemetery. born on October 12, 1913 in Decatur, IL. German, as well as his extensive expe- He is an example of our nation’s Great- His parents, Reginald and Pauline, rience in Europe. During one operation est Generation of heroes that grew up were prominent members of the com- in search of uranium in September during the Depression, responded to munity, both serving at different times 1944, he and Colonel Pash entered a their country’s call to arms during on the Decatur school board. World War II, and continued to serve plant located near Antwerp, Belgium Reginald was an all American kid during the long Cold War against com- where fighting was still going on be- growing up in Illinois during the Great munism. As President Franklin D. tween British and German forces. Depression. As a teenager in the 1920s, Roosevelt described, ‘‘This generation There, they found approximately 70 he spent his Saturdays at the silent of Americans [had] a rendezvous with moving pictures. In junior high, he tons of refined uranium. Far more difficult was a mission to destiny.’’ spent a year delivering the Decatur Mr. Augustine is survived by his wife southern France, which at that time Herald—getting up every morning at 3 of 61 years, two daughters, two sons-in- was a dangerous no man’s land, occu- a.m. and returning to bed by 5 a.m. law, and two grandchildren. We owe pied by 2 competing resistance move- During high school, he played football him and his family, as well as his gen- ments—one Communist, the other non- and participated in the school band, eration, a debt of gratitude. Communist. According to Reginald’s while also working at the Biflex Bump- f er Company. memoirs, ‘‘no British or American After graduating from Decatur High forces, and not even any units of the HONORING JOHN KATZ School in 1931, Reginald attended regular French army’’ were present in Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, I rise Northwestern University as a member the area. As part of a group of 6 Alsos today to commend the distinguished of the third entering class of Austin officers, he conducted the negotiations public service of a true statesman from Scholars. This program, launched in with partisans and officials. At a my State of Alaska, John Katz. At the September 1929, provided full room, French arsenal in Toulouse, armed new year, John will step down as direc- board, and tuition for 4 undergraduate with a Geiger counter, he discovered a tor of the State of Alaska’s national of- years, plus a year of all-expenses paid major cache of uranium. Reginald, fice here in Washington, DC, after study and travel abroad. He received Colonel Pash, and a well-armed U.S. nearly three decades in that position. his bachelor’s degree from North- military contingent later returned to John Katz is an Alaska pioneer. He has western in 1935, with a major in Latin remove the uranium by force. Reginald been a key player in virtually every and a minor in German. These lan- accompanied the shipment of uranium major public policy decision in Alaska guage skills proved pivotal in the di- back to the U.S. on a U.S. Navy ship. for the past 40 years—and Alaska has rection of the rest of his life. This uranium was eventually used in only been a State for 52 years. John After college, Reginald spent 16 the Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiro- helped Alaska’s transition to statehood months touring Europe and North Afri- shima. in our formative years. He shaped and ca on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle Reginald went on many other critical implemented key congressional laws, that he acquired in Rotterdam, per- missions, including one to recover the including the Alaska Native Claims fecting his knowledge of German, international radium standards from a Settlement Act and the Alaska Na- French, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish. small eastern German town only hours tional Interest Lands Conservation During an extended stay in Germany, before it was handed over to Soviet Act. he witnessed a Nazi party rally in Hei- forces. He oversaw the safe transfer of John laid the foundation for Alaska’s delberg that he later described as akin Nazi scientists, as well as American robust resource-based economy, which to a Fourth of July celebration with scientists, from one place to another. at one point was providing this Nation scarlet swastika banners and leather- On one occasion, he found himself face- a quarter of its domestic oil. John has booted storm troopers. He returned to to-face with a Nazi checkpoint, manned helped transform the Last Frontier the U.S. in late September 1937, never by an armed German crew, but escaped into a modern society, bringing basic forgetting what he had witnessed. unharmed. facilities like water, sewer, and phone The Selective Service Act of 1940 re- Another mission that Reginald de- service to a territory one-fifth the size quired all U.S. residents between the scribed as ‘‘a grand climax to all Alsos of the lower 48 States. Overall, John ages of 21 and 35 to register, and in operations in the war,’’ was the seizure has helped carefully manage Alaska’s 1940, Mr. Augustine was 27. He was to of a strategic German atomic research often strained relationship with the be drafted in February, 1942, but after center near Stuttgart. Once the area Federal Government. After working as the Japanese Empire bombed Pearl had been secured, he escorted several a high school teacher and coach in Bal- Harbor, he went straight to the enlist- captured German scientists to Amer- timore public schools, John began his ment center in Peoria to sign up and ican territory, including Otto Hahn, long career of service to Alaska when serve his country in the U.S. Army Air discoverer of the nuclear fission prin- he joined the staff of Alaska Congress- Corps. ciple, Nobelist Max von Laue, and man Howard Pollock. My dad, Nick

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