Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of H.R. 208, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 500 West Main Street, Suite 102 in Tupelo, Mississippi, as the Colonel Carlyle ``Smitty'' Harris Post Office. Smitty Harris entered the Air Force on January 2, 1951, and served through the rank of sergeant before being commissioned. He retired from the Air Force in 1979 as a colonel. In his career, he flew fighter aircraft and was an instructor and operations officer and a faculty member at the Air War College. On April 4, 1965, just a week before his 36th birthday, he was on a combat mission over North Vietnam to bomb the Thanh Hoa Bridge. Smitty was successful in destroying the bridge, but his F-105 fighter plane was hit and Smitty was forced to bail out over North Vietnam. He was captured immediately and spent the next 8 years as a prisoner of war in various prisons, where he was confined, mistreated, and tortured. He is credited with introducing the tap code to POWs so that they could communicate surreptitiously between their cell walls. During his distinguished Air Force career, Smitty earned two Silver Medals, three Legion of Merits, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars for valor, two Purple Hearts, and two Air Medals as well.…”