[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 7] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 10092] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONOR ANDREW HIGGINS AND HIS WORKERS FOR BUILDING BOATS THAT WON WORLD WAR II ______ HON. WILLIAM J. JEFFERSON of louisiana in the house of representatives Wednesday, June 6, 2001 Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today, as I did on D- Day last year, to introduce a resolution that is long overdue. On behalf of the entire Louisiana delegation, I would like to honor the forgotten heroes of World War II--the late Andrew Jackson Higgins, who designed the Higgins landing craft and his 20,000 employees who built the 20,000 boats that won the war. Once again, I ask Congress to recognize these heroes--who contributed so greatly to the war effort, but never left the Louisiana shores. Mr. Speaker, I stand here to reintroduce a resolution to award the late Andrew Jackson Higgins and the 20,000 plus men and women of Higgins Industries that supported the war efforts abroad with a Congressional Gold Medal. This medal will serve as long-overdue recognition for their patriotic contributions to our country, to the world--to peace and to freedom. Briefly, let me explain again why then late Andrew Higgins and the employees of Higgins Industries deserve this most prestigious honor. Andrew Jackson Higgins designed the landing craft, now dubbed ``the Higgins boats,'' used to land troops across open beaches during all amphibious assaults in World War II. The most famous, of course, was the D-Day invasion of Normandy; but other landings, like Leyte Gulf, Guadalcanal and Sicily were equally important. The 20,000 Higgins boats were built at eight plants in New Orleans, the city that I represent and that is home to the National D-Day Museum. These plants produced most of the vessels and equipment that were essential to the war efforts. Higgins employed more than 20,000 workers around the clock for over four years. They built over 20,000 landing craft and trained over 30,000 military personnel on the operation of the boats. At their peak, Higgins Industries produced about 700 boats per month. Beyond his dedication during the war, Higgins possessed qualities that were far beyond his years. Even before America entered the war, Higgins anticipated the possible need for his boats, and he purchased the entire 1940 Philippine Mahogany crop. Higgins displayed a social conscience that was unimaginably progressive in the 1940s. He employed men and women, blacks and whites with an ``equal pay for equal work'' policy decades before integration and gender equality in the workforce. Mr. Speaker, Andrew Jackson Higgins was a man of great insight and ingenuity. His accomplishments were recognized by President Eisenhower on more than one occasion. On Thanksgiving, 1944, Eisenhower boasted, ``Let us thank God for Higgins Industries' management and labor which has given us the landing boats with which to conduct our campaign.'' Again, in 1964, Eisenhower praised Andrew Higgins by saying, ``He is the man that won the war. If Higgins had not produced and developed those landing craft, we never could have gone in over an open beach. We would have had to change the entire strategy of the war.'' The time has come for the Nation to honor the contributions of the people of Higgins Industries: men and women, blacks and whites, working side by side, equal pay for equal work, to build the boats that won World War II. Mr. Higgins went above and beyond the call of duty for his country and worked in a way that was far beyond his years. His progressive and aggressive policies before and during the war should serve as a member to all of us who serve our country, and should thus be duly recognized. Mr. Speaker, I reiterate, the recognition of the late Andrew Jackson Higgins and the employees of Higgins' Industries is long overdue. I believe these forgotten heroes should now be honored and always remembered. A Congressional Gold Medal will honor them, just as their work helped to keep us free. ____________________