John Boehner: “I support and urge my colleagues to support the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002…”

“I support and urge my colleagues to support the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (H.R. 4205) which contains an important provision to the friends, relatives, and military colleagues of William H. Pitsenbarger. The provision permits the Medal of Honor to be awarded posthumously to Airman First Class William H. Pitsenbarger, a pararescue crew member from Piqua, a town in my district. He was killed in a military operation assisting in the rescue of Army personnel who were severely out numbered and surrounded by Vietcong troops near Cam My, Republic of Vietnam on April 11, 1966. I have included a short article describing his heroic action from the Air Force Association magazine, Valor, published in October 1983. 'That Others May Live' (By John L. Frisbee) A1C Bill Pitsenbarger knew the risks involved when he volunteered to drop into the midst of a jungle firefight. By April 1966, 21-year-old A1C William H. Pitsenbarger, then in the final months of his enlistment, had seen more action than many a 30-year veteran. Young Pitsenbarger had gone through long and arduous training for duty as a pararescue medic with the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service and had completed more than 300 rescue missions in Vietnam, many of them under heavy enemy fire. He wore the Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters; recommendations for four more were pending.”