Roy Blunt: “Last week our Nation lost a true American hero. In the last 40 years no member of the Congress has been more dedicated…”

“Last week our Nation lost a true American hero. In the last 40 years no member of the Congress has been more dedicated to America's defense and those who defend it than my good friend and former colleague Ike Skelton. Growing up in Lexington, MO, his dream of joining the military like his father was cut short when he was diagnosed with polio. A true sign of his determination occurred when he overcame this hardship and went on to serve his Nation in a way he could never have imagined as a young patient at Warm Springs, GA, at a center founded by President Franklin Roosevelt and focused on their common challenge of how to overcome polio. Ike served in the Missouri State Senate for 4 years. He was encouraged by a family friend, another Missourian named Harry Truman, to represent Missouri at the national level. A few years after that encouragement he eventually followed President Truman's advice and was eventually elected to the House of Representatives, where he started to serve in 1977 and continued to fulfill his dream of protecting America. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton successfully led an effort that transformed Whiteman Air Force Base to house one of the most iconic military aircraft in U.S. history, the B-2 Bomber. Fort Leonard Wood grew from a training base for the newly enlisted to a center for many of our military schools and the Army Corps of Engineers.…”