John Ratcliffe: “At age 19, Ralph Hall jumped at the chance to join the Navy, to fly Hellcat fighters during World War II in defense of…”

“At age 19, Ralph Hall jumped at the chance to join the Navy, to fly Hellcat fighters during World War II in defense of this Nation. Seventy years later, at the age of 89, he jumped again out of an airplane to honor America's veterans on Memorial Day. At age 11, Ralph Hall was working at the Rockwall, Texas, drugstore when he served two Coca-Colas, two packs of Old Gold cigarettes, and a stack of newspapers to two customers known simply to the rest of the world as Bonnie and Clyde. Eighty years later, at the age of 91, Ralph was still working and serving the folks in Rockwall, in north Texas, as the oldest Member ever to cast a vote in the history of the House of Representatives. From beginning to end, Ralph Hall lived one of the most extraordinary and remarkable lives of anyone ever to serve in Congress. In his 34 years in this Chamber, Ralph spent some of his time sitting over here as a Blue Dog Democrat. For some of his time he spent it sitting over there as a conservative Republican. Ralph liked to joke that was because ``the Republicans never much wanted me, and the Democrats never much liked me.'' Neither of those was true, but it was that self-deprecating humor that made Ralph Hall beloved to everyone who knew him. In the Science, Space, and Technology Committee room, Ralph Hall's picture hangs alongside other past chairmen.…”