Frank Lautenberg: “I enlisted in 1942 when my father was on his death bed with cancer. It was a duty that I felt keenly and I enlisted…”

“I enlisted in 1942 when my father was on his death bed with cancer. It was a duty that I felt keenly and I enlisted, even as my father was on his death bed. My mother was 36 years old. I cannot remember any of my contemporaries who did not serve or who were not going to serve. There were 16 million in uniform. It was quite an assembly of Americans of all cultures and religions. We had one mission and that was to protect this world of ours from becoming a product of fascism. While it was so many years ago, it is wonderful to be able to recall we were there. When I look at the actions of Danny Inouye, who among us is at the top, given the Congressional Medal of Honor, that is a distinction that is given to so few people.”