Congressional Record—Senate S8711
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December 9, 2010 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8711 contributed tremendously to a number The Bronze Star is awarded to mili- and begging for visas before they fi- of highly advanced projects. tary service personnel for bravery, acts nally escaped from Nazi-occupied Eu- Fiber Materials was established in of merit or meritorious service. When rope. the southern Maine town of Biddeford awarded for bravery, it is the fourth- I was excited that someone with a in 1969 and has become a global leader highest combat award of the U.S. name like mine was such a hero and in the design, manufacture, and testing Armed Forces. Captain Vujnovich’s de- was the genesis of my interest in Yugo- of a variety of advanced composites in termination to rescue and save the slavia. In fact it left such an impres- its 40 years of operation. The company trapped airmen and subsequent partici- sion on me that my first paper in produces a wide range of materials, pation in the planning and execution of undergrad school was titled ‘‘How the from carbon/carbon composites used in Operation Halyard—resulted in one of U.S. sold out Yugoslavia at Yalta and the construction of heatshields and the most successful air force rescue Tehran’’. missile nosetips, to quartz products de- missions in history; and an operation Captain Vujnovich made it his per- signed for printed circuit boards or so secret that the records were only de- sonal crusade to get the airmen home. electrical and thermal insulation. classified in 1997. From the outset though, Operation Fiber Materials now employs roughly I was made aware of the Halyard Mis- Halyard encountered opposition from 180 employees at its facilities in Bidde- sion as a boy in 1946. I was in attend- Allied leaders—from the U.S. State De- ford and Presque Isle, and its Space ance at a social event in my parents’ partment, from communist sympa- Technology Division in Columbus, OH. home to honor Captain Nick Lalich as thizers in the British Special Oper- Fiber Materials has earned a number one of the leaders who was part of the ations Executive, SOE, even from Brit- of financial awards to fund the develop- military team that parachuted into ish Prime Minister Winston Churchill ment of critical projects through the Serbia to execute and carry out Cap- himself. It was an operation that Small Business Innovation Research, tain Vujnovich’s plan to rescue and seemed condemned from the start, but or SBIR, program at the National Aer- evacuate the airmen. Captain Vujnovich persevered rather onautics and Space Administration, Captain Vujnovich served with the than let the mission die. His persist- NASA. The SBIR program provides Office of Strategic Services; the prede- ence paid off. Even thought the oper- funding to small businesses with inno- cessor of the modern Central Intel- ation endured from August 9, 1944, vative, early stage ideas that align ligence Agency, CIA, and the wartime through December 27, 1944, within only with the research and development organization charged with coordinating the first 2 days, Operation Halyard suc- goals of 11 different Federal agencies, activities behind enemy lines for the cessfully retrieved 241 American and including NASA, the Department of branches of the U.S. military. Oper- Allied airmen. By the time the Oper- Defense, and the National Institutes of ation Halyard evolved in wake of the ation was officially ended, Vujnovich’s Health. One of the most recent systems Allied bombing campaign to destroy team had airlifted 512 downed Allied that Fiber Materials contributed to Nazi Germany’s vast network of petro- airmen to safety without the loss of a under NASA’s purview is ORION leum resources in occupied Eastern Eu- single life or aircraft—a truly impres- Launch Abort System, which will allow rope. The most vital target of bombing sive accomplishment. the crew to escape the spacecraft in the was the facilities located in Ploesti, Captain George Vujnovich’s recogni- case of an emergency. The system was Romania, which supplied 35 percent of tion as a hero and valued asset to this successfully tested in May 2010. Germany’s wartime petroleum. Begin- country and the U.S. Air Force is long In recognition of Fiber Materials’ ning in April 1944, bombers of the Fif- over due. Frankly, had the records of dedicated efforts to NASA, the Johnson teenth Allied Air Force began a relent- the operation not remained sealed Space Center recently recognized the less campaign to blast the heavily until 1997, I feel certain Captain company with its 2010 Small Business guarded facilities in Ploesti in an at- Vujnovich would have received this Subcontractor of the Year Award. Ac- tempt to halt petroleum production al- honor years ago. Nevertheless, the dec- cording to NASA’s Office of Small together. By August, Ploesti was vir- ades do not and cannot diminish the Business Programs, the award ac- tually destroyed—but at the cost of 350 valor and patriotism of this extraor- knowledges ‘‘ successful and innovative bombers lost, with their crews either dinary man. I ask all my colleagues to practices that promote small business killed, captured, or missing in action. join me now to honor this Serbian- participation in the initiatives that The assault on Ploesti forced hun- American hero, to thank him for his NASA undertakes.’’ Fiber Materials dreds of Allied airmen to bail out over dedicated service to our country and to has been an invaluable resource to the Nazi-occupied eastern Serbia, an area congratulate him for winning the Federal government from the begin- patrolled by the Allied-friendly Chet- Bronze Star. Captain Vujnovich, I sa- ning, and I commend the company for nik guerrilla army. When the Chetnik lute you.∑ playing such an integral part in some commander, General Draza of NASA’s most critical initiatives. Mihailovich, realized that Allied air- f Small businesses that are versatile men were parachuting into his terri- MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT tory, he ordered his troops, as well as and multifaceted such as Fiber Mate- A message from the President of the the local peasantry, to aid the aviators rials will be critical as the United United States was communicated to by taking them to Chetnik head- States seeks to continue in its role as the Senate by Mr. Pate, one of his sec- quarters in Pranjani, Serbia for evacu- a world leader. Undoubtedly, partici- retaries. pating in programs like SBIR will pro- ation. vide the company with countless addi- General Mihailovich’s attempts to f alert American authorities to the situ- tional opportunities to simultaneously EXECUTIVE MESSAGE REFERRED contribute to NASA’s mission and cre- ation regrettably initially failed to ate jobs in Maine. I thank everyone at produce action. Fortunately, fate As in executive session the Presiding Fiber Materials for their strong work would have it that when Mirjana Officer laid before the Senate a mes- ethic, ingenuity, and dedication, and I Vujnovich, a Serb employee of the sage from the President of the United wish them continued success in the Yugoslav embassy in Washington, DC, States submitting a nomination which years to come.∑ heard of the trapped airmen, and im- was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen- f mediately wrote to her husband, Cap- tain Vujnovich, stationed in Bari, sions. TRIBUTE TO CAPTAIN GEORGE M. Italy. As an American, descending from (The nomination received today is VUJNOVICH Serb parents, Vujnovich knew the re- printed at the end of the Senate pro- ∑ Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, I gion intimately and also knew how to ceedings.) wish to honor an outstanding Serbian- escape from Nazi-occupied territory: he f American, Captain (Ret.) George M. had been a medical student in Belgrade Vujnovich, who was recently awarded when Yugoslavia fell to the Axis pow- MESSAGES FROM THE HOUSE the Bronze Star Medal, for his heroic ers in 1941, and he and his wife spent At 9:33 a.m., a message from the actions during World War II. months sneaking through minefields House of Representatives, delivered by VerDate Mar 15 2010 02:47 Jun 10, 2011 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD10\RECFILES\S09DE0.REC S09DE0 bjneal on DSK2TWX8P1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE.