[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7] [Senate] [Pages 9758-9759] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH FLYNN Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to congratulate Joseph Flynn, a constituent and friend, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. It has often been said that our Greatest Generation is comprised of those Americans who pulled the country out of the depths of the Great Depression and went on to lead the Allies to victory in World War Two. My friend Joe Flynn is a quintessential member of that generation. One of 11 children born to immigrant parents in Chicago, he exemplifies the virtues of love of family, devotion to country, generosity to neighbors, and unstinting hard work. Growing up in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, the guiding light of Joe's life was his mother, Mary. She instilled in him the moral foundation that continues to guide him to this very day. Joe began his working life while still a boy, hawking newspapers on Chicago street corners and stocking shelves in the neighborhood grocery store. When Joe was just out of his teens, he, like so many other young men of his time, faced the prospect of his country going to war and calling on him to do his part. Except Joe didn't wait for his country to call--he enlisted in the Army 2 months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Joe spent the next 4 years in the Army serving as a medic in the 941st Field Artillery. His unit landed on Omaha Beach shortly after D- day, was among the first American units to enter a liberated Paris, and saw action at the Battle of the Bulge. Despite all that, Joe--never one to complain--says that he had an easy war. His opinion is that the American men and women in uniform today are the ones with the tough duty. They are the ones that this old soldier respects. Coming home to a country at peace, Joe married his girlfriend, Martha Tampa, herself a veteran of the Women's Army Corps. They raised six children: Tim, Joe, Anne, Martha, Deborah and Kevin. Joe and Martha had been married for more than 57 years when Martha passed away, but if you ask Joe, he will no doubt tell you she is still very much alive in his heart. To provide for his family, Joe worked at the A. Finkl & Sons steel mill. He supervised the loading of multiton pieces of machined steel onto trucks to keep America's industrial base supplied. He rose at 4:30 a.m. to take a CTA bus to his job, and he often worked 60 hours or more to earn the precious overtime money his family needed to pay for their mortgage, their groceries, and their education. As hard as Joe worked, when he got off the bus at night, he would run a half mile home because he couldn't wait to see his family. After greeting Martha and his kids, he would sit down and call his mother. [[Page 9759]] The people Joe loves are everything to him, and he now has nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren: Ryan, Meghan, Gwyneth, Gillian, Dylan, Ashley, Brittney, Courtney, Caitie, Ethan and Oliver. He also holds dear his children's spouses and significant others: Doug, Catherine and Bill. Joe's politics are simple. Being a lifelong working man--who still mows his own lawn and cleans his own gutters--he believes that the working men and women of the United States deserve their fair share of the country's prosperity in the good times and its help in the hard times. History doesn't often record people like Joe as being great men, but as his family will tell you, he is the greatest example of a good man they know. ____________________