Ted Poe: “As we near Veterans Day, I want to pay a special tribute to my friend First Sergeant David McNerney. Here is a…”

“As we near Veterans Day, I want to pay a special tribute to my friend First Sergeant David McNerney. Here is a photograph of him, here to my left. After high school in Houston, David volunteered and enlisted in the United States Navy. He spent two tours of duty in Korea. And after leaving the Navy in 1953, he joined the United States Army. In 1962, McNerney was one of the first 500 soldiers sent to Vietnam. During his third tour of duty in Vietnam, he was stationed near the Cambodian border. And in March of '67, he and his company were sent to recover a missing reconnaissance team. Coming under heavy Vietnamese attack, McNerney was wounded by a grenade, and his commander was killed. Nonetheless, McNerney continued the fight, calling in close artillery fire. He destroyed an enemy machine gun, he pulled wounded to safety, he secured a landing zone for medical helicopters, and he refused to be evacuated himself. His actions stopped the enemy advance and saved his own men's lives. His valor earned First Sergeant McNerney the Congressional Medal of Honor, and it was presented to him by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Then McNerney volunteered yet again for a fourth tour of duty in Vietnam. After serving in the Army and the Navy, McNerney returned to Crosby, Texas. And last year, my friend First Sergeant McNerney died in Texas, still a patriot. Mr. Speaker, where does America get such men as these, these warriors, this rare breed, these Americans?…”