Joe Cunningham: “I come here tonight, as someone once said, with a very heavy heart. I would say, Mr. Speaker, unlike many of my…”

“I come here tonight, as someone once said, with a very heavy heart. I would say, Mr. Speaker, unlike many of my colleagues in this body and the other body, I spent the majority of my adult life in the military. I come with a lot of experience. I have flown in three fighter squadrons. I was both a student and an instructor at the Navy fighter weapons school, which most people call Top Gun, where we devised the tactics and invasions of countries of our potential enemies. I served on Seven Fleet Staff, where we planned and my preliminary job was planning the invasion and the defense of Southeast Asia countries. I flew 300 combat missions in Vietnam. I was shot down on the 10th of May, 1972, and I was very fortunate, unlike my colleague Sam Johnson in this body, was not taken prisoner of war but had a helicopter rescue me before the enemy got to me.”