Political Quotes

“I have the privilege today of honoring Jack Holder, who passed away on February 24, 2023, at the age of 101. Jack was a constituent and a U.S. Navy veteran of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, Guadalcanal, and dozens upon dozens of missions in support of the Allied Forces during World War II. Born Joseph Norman Holder on December 13, 1921, Jack was raised in a farming family in Gunter, Texas. Jack's father served in the trenches of World War I, and his uncle flew crop dusters over the family farm. With that heritage, it was only natural that combat aviation was a fit for Jack when he joined the U.S. Navy on April 24, 1940, at 18 years old. Jack attended boot camp and trained as an aviation machinist and mechanic in San Diego. He was then assigned to a flying boat squadron based on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Jack recalled how, soon after he lined up for roll call that fateful Sunday morning, the first bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbor only about 100 yards from him. He wrote how he heard ``the screaming aircraft with the rising sun insignia and loud explosions,'' and how, ``as I looked up, I saw a plane circle and head straight for us, so we jumped in a nearby ditch.'' Jack never forgot that moment, seeing the face of the pilot, hearing the roar of the plane's engine, and the sight of his guns aimed right at him.…”