January 9, 2019 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S99 rightwing talk radio and TV personal- tacked the unmarked freighter holding National Bank eventually became part ities. After negotiating overall funding 1,300 prisoners of war docked in the of Arvest Bank and Dick worked for levels for defense and nondefense Japanese colony’s harbor. Two hundred the company for over four decades, re- spending last year, the President near- died instantly. Nearly everyone else tiring as executive vice president, ly vetoed the final 2018 Omnibus appro- was wounded. For 2 days, the men were member of the board of directors and priations bill because he was criticized left in the floating wreckage before the board secretary of Arvest Bank, Rog- for the size and scope of the bill. Sec- Japanese permitted the dead to be re- ers. retary Mattis had to be summoned to moved. Their remains were buried While enjoying a successful career at the White House to explain how impor- ashore in mass graves. Arvest, Dick also played an outsized tant the bill was to the Pentagon be- After the war, the 400 victims of the role in northwest Arkansas. He served fore the President grudgingly agreed to bombing of the Enoura Maru were ex- as president and board member of the sign it. humed and eventually brought to the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Com- Now there is no Secretary Mattis or National Memorial Cemetery of the merce, was a board member at a local anyone of his stature to give the Presi- Pacific in Hawaii. They rest in 20 mass United Way, founded the Single Parent dent good counsel. If the President re- graves marked only as ‘‘Unknowns Scholarship Fund in Benton County, mains implacable about his wall, it January 9, 1945.’’ Their families did not was a charter member of the Northwest will be up to my colleagues on the learn the final fate of their loved ones Arkansas Community College Board of other side of the aisle to join with until 2001. Trustees, and served on the Rogers Democrats to pass the bipartisan bills This past August, we remembered Youth Center Board of Directors, we have already agreed on together and these brave men with a memorial stone among so many other philanthropic reopen the government. on the Memorial Walk at the Cemetery and civic endeavors. I hope they do so, and soon, as the honoring the prisoners of war aboard He is also a board member of the U.S. lives of our constituents and the health the hell ship Enoura Maru. The Amer- Marshals Museum Foundation which is and businesses of our States are at ican Defenders of Bataan and Cor- incredibly meaningful given the impor- stake. regidor Memorial Society, an organiza- tance of the Marshals Service to the re- The answer we have to give is not to tion that represents the American pris- gion and the work we have done to help the President. The answer is to that oners of war of Imperial Japan and make the U.S. Marshals Museum in young woman working every day with- their families, organized the com- Fort Smith a reality. We worked to- out pay to protect the American public memoration in Hawaii. gether not only in that capacity, but in by inspecting foods that we eat. The That memorial stone is a monument many other ways to help the region answer we have to give is to that young to their courage, suffering, and sac- grow as Dick has spent the last 10 Coast Guard officer who is working rifice. It commemorates their tragic years on our State’s highway commis- every day, trying to pay for and to af- death 74 years ago and marks their sion following his appointment to the ford things for a young family without final return home. Let that stone and panel by former Governor Mike Beebe being paid. The only answer we can our remembrance of the prisoners of in 2009. give them is that we are opening up war on the Enoura Maru remind us of Just recently it was announced that, this government immediately. our sacred commitment to veterans of through many years of persistent work With that, I yield the floor. all eras to ‘‘never forget.’’ May they between members of Congress from Ar- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. rest in peace. kansas and Missouri and the respective TILLIS). The majority leader. f legislatures and State government f agencies in both States, that a multi- ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS million-dollar grant has been secured MORNING BUSINESS to complete the Bella Vista Bypass on Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I Interstate 49. Dick and his colleagues TRIBUTE TO DICK TRAMMEL ask unanimous consent that the Sen- on the highway commission understood ate proceed to a period of morning ∑ Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, today just how important this was for the re- business, with Senators permitted to I wish to acknowledge the remarkable gion and worked hand-in-hand with the speak therein for up to 10 minutes career and service of a man who has congressional delegation to reach this each. played an instrumental role in the outcome. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without growth and development of northwest As Dick’s service at Arvest and on objection, it is so ordered. Arkansas over the last four decades. the Arkansas Highway Commission f Dick Trammel, a pillar of the com- comes to a close, it is only fitting to munity and a leader who has been in- recognize his enormous impact on a re- ‘‘ENOURA MARU’’ ANNIVERSARY volved in almost everything positive gion in Arkansas that has experienced Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, today, that has happened in and around my so much growth and transformation we remember the 400 American and Al- hometown of Rogers, AR, has con- throughout his career. Throughout all lied prisoners of war who died 74 years cluded his service at Arvest Bank after this change, Dick Trammel has re- ago from friendly fire aboard the Japa- 43 years. He is also ending a 10-year mained a constant source of stability, nese hell ship Enoura Maru docked in term on the Arkansas Highway Com- leadership, and willingness to do what- Takeo Harbor, Formosa—modern-day mission this month. ever it takes to improve the quality of . Dick is a homegrown Arkansan. A life for everyone in the community. Among the dead were men who left native of Pocahontas, he attended the When my brother and I moved to their homes in America, , University of Arkansas where he was a Rogers to establish a medical practice Canada, Great Britain, the Nether- cheerleader for the Hogs football team in 1977, Dick was one of the first people lands, , and Czechoslovakia to and earned a bachelor of science degree we met. During that time and over the fight an enemy they did not know, in in business administration in 1960. decades that have followed, he has been places few of them had heard of, all in After graduation, Dick returned home a steadfast friend and mentor. I greatly pursuit of a common cause: freedom, to work in the cotton gin and grain ele- admire and appreciate his many con- justice, and equality. These heroes vator business and became an active tributions to a place we both love and were part of the infamous 45-day odys- member and leader in Pocahontas and have served in different capacities over sey of the last transport of prisoners of Randolph County. the years. war from the to Japan— As we all now know, the 1960s saw the I wish Dick and his wife Nancy well captive since the American territory founding of retail giant Walmart by as he begins a well-deserved retire- fell to Imperial Japan in the spring of Sam Walton. As Walmart was ment. He has always been dedicated to 1942 after fighting to defend the Phil- headquartered in Bentonville, Sam was helping people, and his lengthy career ippines. able to entice Dick to relocate to the has demonstrated that commitment On the morning of January 9, 1945, region and join First National Bank & many times over. I am grateful to Dick dive bombers from the USS Hornet at- Trust Company in Rogers in 1975. First and his entire family for the way they

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