Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 4955. This bill will designate the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, as the Henry Parham VA Clinic. I thank my colleague, Representative Lee, for introducing this bill. A member of a segregated Army unit, Private First Class Parham was likely the last surviving African-American D-day combat veteran. His heroic actions during perhaps the most famous military operation in American history are worthy of our continued gratitude. It is my pleasure to support this bill to do just that. Mr. Parham was born in Emporia, Virginia, in November 1921 and was the son of a sharecropper. With limited educational opportunities in Emporia for African Americans, Mr. Parham moved to Richmond as a teenager to begin work as a porter for Trailways buses. Following American entry into World War II, Mr. Parham was drafted into the Army at age 21. His unit, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, had the mission of protecting ground forces by raising the hydrogen- filled balloons to disrupt and down enemy aircraft. The 320th, an all-Black unit, initially trained in Tennessee before being sent to England in 1943 to prepare for the D-day invasion. Landing on Omaha Beach hours after the first wave of American troops, Private First Class Parham and his unit encountered heavy German fire and casualties spread across the battlefield.…”