We do not intend to let it rest there. This sensitive symbol will become and be used as a living memorial. We have done a great deal of work to develop activities under the aegis of the Corregidor Bataan Memorial which we believe will do much to offset the effect of the all-out Communist effort in the Far East. We have an invaluable asset in the friendship of the Philippines, a democratic nation, just as Russia has in Communist China.

In my opinion this is not fully evaluated nor adequately utilized. Russian communism, according to authorities is daily gaining ground in Asia, largely accomplished in the name and with the assistance of China. We have reason to believe that we can secure active cooperation and abundant financial support which will make the actual memorial when completed, continue to serve effectively as a living force. It is consonant with a memorial in the spirit that "These dead shall not have died in vain."

The things of which I have spoken are authorized by legislation heretofore approved by Congress, and are not a part of the bills before you.

This bill will make it possible to start the erection of the memorial at once. The passage of this measure, now, will save from 3 to 4 years in getting started.

Twenty-nine ships which saw distinguished service in World War II are now in moth balls awaiting an inevitable ignominious end in the junk pile. The Navy states that they will not be of further service to our country or anyone, and it is empowered to dispose of them. The cost of their maintenance is approximately 3 to 4 million dollars a year. If not junked for the next 3 or 4 years they could entail an expense of 9 to 12 million dollars. Every American must feel some regret that the ships will no longer serve the cause for which they were built, and finally lose their identity in the junk pile.

The bills before you will preserve their identity, and permit them to continue to serve in the cause of freedom and democracy. A congressional Member on the Commission, General Devereux, introduced these bills to permit the use of the funds from the salvage of the vessels to be applied to the erection of the memorial on Corregidor. It is further planned that as much of the steel as is needed from the ships, shall be the steel of which the memorial will be built. So the memorial framework will be of steel which served as ships in World War II.

The Commission intends to preserve and install some of the identifiable parts of the ships as a part of the memorabilia of the greatest feat of arms in the history of mankind, World War II. There will also be included in the memorial, memorabilia of the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Corps.

Congress has heretofore appropriated the money for the building of these ships and the use of a part of the proceeds from the sale of the ships, is not exactly on all fours with a new appropriation; it is rather a redirection of the money heretofore appropriated. I would not be completely frank with the committee if I did not admit that as far as the balance sheet is concerned, the result is the same.

The memorial when completed will be essentially a plea for peace and freedom in the world, and the use of the steel and other parts of the vessels will be in the spirit of the Biblical quotation:

And they shall beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks.

The Corregidor Bataan Memorial Commission is almost a congressional committee, since of the 9 members 6 must be Members of Congress. In the actual memorial and in the active continuing use of it as a living memorial, we trust and believe that it will be of incalculable value to the cause of better international understanding between the East and the West.

Captain Kelly, retired officer in the Navy, a graduate of Annapolis, is with me. He is Executive Director. We appreciate very much the time that you have given to me, and we will be glad to answer any questions or go into further detail about any matter about which you wish to inquire.

Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. O'Neal. I want to compliment you on the very, very fine statement both as to the justification of the Corregidor Bataan Commission and the method of securing the funds to carry it out.

Now, off the record.

(Statement off the record.)

The CHAIRMAN. I think the better way to approach it, Mr. O'NealI am satisfied every member of the committee is in favor of this. But we have to do it legally. We must do it to meet the rulings of the House. What have you to say, now, as to how you are going to get your money?

Mr. O'NEAL. Mr. Chairman, I would like to be heard very much on that, because I have sweated a good deal of blood on it already.

We had a bill which appropriated proceeds directly to the Commission. We went to the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and to the Parliamentarian. They advised us that that bill could not be referred to anybody else because it was an appropriation.

The CHAIRMAN. That is right.

Mr. O'NEAL. So in order to cure that, we have filed this bill, which is an authorization bill and in no sense an appropriation bill. The CHAIRMAN. Yes, but

Mr. O'NEAL. We submitted that to the Parliamentarian. We submitted that to the legislative counsel. And in order that it would not be in any way an appropriation bill, we corrected the one that we had. The bill before you is a simple authorization, and the Parliamentarian who referred the other bill to the Appropriations Committee referred this bill to the Committee on Armed Services.

The CHAIRMAN. That is good news. Then we need not worry about it, if you already ironed out the matter.

Mr. O'NEAL. That has already been ironed out. Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. All right.

Mr. O'NEAL. Because we had quite a procedural difficulty with this thing.

The CHAIRMAN. That is right.

Mr. O'NEAL. And after consultation with those that I should talk to about it, we introduced this new bill, that is General Devereux introduced this new bill, which makes it an authorization and not an appropriation. Up to that time it was an appropriation.

The CHAIRMAN. I am glad to hear that statement, because that clears up that phase of it.

Mr. Kelleher

Mr. KELLEHER. Mr. Chairman.

Would I understand, Mr. O'Neal, that the Appropriations Committee itself has approved this language, or only the Parliamentarian? Mr. O'NEAL. The Parliamentarian.

I am not concerned about the Appropriations Committee. Not to approve what you gentlemen are doing, no. I didn't attempt that. The CHAIRMAN. Then we need not worry about it.

But we will do this. If the committee acts on this favorably and it is reported to the House and the point of order is raised and the Chair sustains the point of order, then we will have prepared and ready to offer a substitute to take the place of it, that a fund of this amount will be preserved and created in the Department of Defense to be used for this purpose, which later on can be followed by the appropriation.

Mr. O'NEAL. Yes. We expect to go before the Appropriations Committee and justify it, after it is authorized.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, members of the committee, I think we have been very fortunate this morning to have a very, very fine statement. We know all about it.

In selling these vessels, they will take $7,500,000 to use for this purpose.

I think the facts and circumstances warrant it.

Mr. Smart

Mr. SMART. I believe, Mr. Chairman, that the Navy would suggest an amendment to this bill which would broaden the source of revenue for this purpose.

I could read it to you and the Navy can confirm or disaffirm my suggestion.

On page 2, if you will follow your bill, line 7, after the word "of" insert

The CHAIRMAN. Wait a minute. There is no page 2 in this bill. Mr. BATES. Page 3.

The CHAIRMAN. It says 3.

Mr. KILDAY. It goes from 1 to 3.

(Chorus of "Three.")

Mr. KILDAY. This shows we can do anything.

Mr. SMART. 13265 is the one I have.

The CHAIRMAN. 13265 is the one I have. And there is no page 2 here.

Mr. SMART. Check.

Mine is printed here.

The CHAIRMAN. Page 3.

Mr. SMART. All right, on line 7, following the word "of", insert "surplus Navy material, including the sale of vessels stricken from the Naval Register."

The CHAIRMAN. Well, that would mean to scrap and such things, from those particular ships.

Mr. SMART. Whatever is sold or scrapped.

The CHAIRMAN. From those particular ships.

Mr. SMART. No, sir; this would broaden it beyond the ships to other surplus sales.

The CHAIRMAN. What does the Navy say about that?

Captain DIERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I think there is some misunderstanding in the bills that are being discussed.

The CHAIRMAN. Let there be order. Now, talk out. Give your name to the reporter, Captain.

Captain DIERMAN. I am Captain Dierman of the Office of the Navy Comptroller.

The CHAIRMAN. Talk out so we can hear you.

Captain DIERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I think there may be some misunderstanding about the two bills under discussion. The Navy position was originally presented on a bill which requested that the Secretary of the Navy designate certain funds from the proceeds of sale of ships to be placed in a separate account in the Treasury for the use of this commission.

The present bill, 13265, simply authorizes appropriations equal in amount to the proceeds of sales from the surplus disposal program of naval vessels. In other words, these funds

Mr. SMART. Well, to bring this to a point, my suggested amendment the Navy does not propose.

Captain DIERMAN. That is correct, sir. That was made with respect to the earlier bill.

Mr. SMART. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. I couldn't catch the last statement.

Mr. SMART. The Navy does not propose this amendment as I had suggested.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, without objection the bill will be agreed to. With objection, the bill will be favorably reported.

Mr. KILDAY. Report it without amendment.

Mr. SMART. Without amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. All right. The bill will be favorably reported. General Devereux, the author of the bill, will report the bill. Thank you very much.

Now, Mr. Durham has a bill.

Thank you, Mr. O'Neal.

Mr. O'NEAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. A little order is suggested by Mr. Gavin.

Mr. DURHAM. Mr. Chairman, there is one little bill that was reported by the committee, but we were asked by Congressman Moss to hold it up. I would like for Mr. Kelleher-I think it has been adjusted now and should be reported.

The CHAIRMAN. What bill?

Mr. KELLEHER. This is a bill, copies of which the committee does not have before it, Mr. Chairman. It is H. R. 11122, and there are only a few copies left. I will pass those out, if you would like.

The CHAIRMAN. Has the subcommittee acted on it, Mr. Durham? Mr. DURHAM. Yes, we acted on it favorably, and Congressman Moss asked us to hold it up and not report it to the full committee until he could get some information that he wanted to get about that. The CHAIRMAN. Well, let's see:

To provide for the conveyance of certain real property of the United States, comprising a part of Beale Air Force Base, California, to the South Sutter Water District, East Nicolaus, California.

Mr. KELLEHER. Most of it is description, Mr. Chairman.

Actually, what the bill would do would authorize the Secretary of the Air Force to convey 1,936 acres to the South Sutter Water District this land is a part of Beale Air Force Base-for the construction of a dam and reservoir. Fair market value would be paid for the property.

It would also permit the water district to remove gravel from another 598 acres.

The CHAIRMAN. Do we sell the gravel or give it to them?

Mr. KELLEHER. We give them the gravel, but they pay for the land.

The Bureau of the Budget is opposed to the bill.

The CHAIRMAN. What?

Mr. KELLEHER. The Bureau of the Budget is opposed to the bill. Mr. KILDAY. How about the Air Force?

Mr. KELLEHER. The Air Force has no objection if it is amended in certain minor respects.

Mr. DURHAM. They have no use for it.

As I understand the report, there is a question in my mind of getting some of this land back

The CHAIRMAN. In view of the fact that the Budget is opposed to it, let's don't get bogged down with too much controversy, as it is the end of the session. I suggest we hold it for the time being for further study.

Mr. DURHAM. Mr. Chairman, this is quite important to a large community out there.

The CHAIRMAN. I know water is very important to California. But 1,900 acres is very important to the Government.

Mr. DURHAM. We have too much now, and we ought to sell it, if we can get the proper price for it.

The CHAIRMAN. I think the thing to do, in view of the facts and circumstances on it, is to let it lie for the time being.

Mr. Rivers, do you have any report from your subcommittee?
Mr. RIVERS. Mr. Chairman-

The CHAIRMAN. Now, let all the members be here. We have other business to attend to.

Mr. RIVERS. We have two remaining projects that ought to be brought to the attention of the committee.

One of them is the Nike-Hercules site for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

We had a lengthy hearing on this installation. It requires the acquisition of 121 acres of land. We went into the overall subject.

To start with, the committee had no objection to the construction of this installation in the Dallas area. But in the course of our hearing we developed that the continental air defense setup has no program for defending certain sections of the United States.

We have a vast area from Norfolk, Va., to and including New Orleans, La., which are completely exposed. There is Wilmington, N. C., Charleston, S. C., Jacksonville, Fla., Miami, Fla., Atlanta, Ga., where they make the Hercules-the Consolidated air plant, the Savannah River H-bomb plant, New Orleans, La., Mobile, Ala., and all of these areas are not within the program for the defense. Yet they jump over all this area and go into the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which they say is a No. 1 target.

Now, the Nike-Hercules is to knock down conventional aircraft. While we don't object to defending the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we call to the committee's attention that you have a vast segment of the United States exposed. The Navy has no picket ship offshore. The Army has no plans for Nike installations. And the only thing we