Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)Louis Lou Anthony Conter was born on September 13, 1921, in Ojibwa, Wisconsin. (2)Lt. Commander Lou Conter, the last remaining survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, was an American hero. (3)On that fearful day, Petty Officer Conter helped evacuate shipmates who were blinded, wounded, or burned, even restraining some of his fellow shipmates from jumping overboard into the burning sea. (4)In the days after the attack, he helped with recovering bodies and putting out fires. Lou Conter’s heroic actions saved the lives of many of his shipmates on December 7, 1941. (5)Following Pearl Harbor, Conter continued serving during WWII in New Guinea and in Europe as an enlisted naval aviation pilot assigned to VP-11, a Black Cat Squadron. (6)Lou Conter would be awarded with the Distinguished Flying Cross for actively taking part in the rescue of 219 Australians trapped by Japanese troops in New Guinea. (7)Later, in the Korean War, he served on the USS Bon Homme Richard as both an intelligence officer and a navy aviation pilot. Following his service in the Korean War, he served as a military intelligence advisor to three Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. (8)During the 1950s, Lou Conter played a prominent role in the establishment and development of the Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training program. (9)In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross, he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and became the first recipient of the USS Arizona Medal of Freedom. (10)Louis Conter retired from the Navy in 1967 after serving 28 years as a Lieutenant Commander. (11)Following his retirement, he generously gave his time to share his personal experiences at veterans’ ceremonies and by giving lectures to students. (12)Lieutenant Commander Conter’s lectures were popular with generations of local students who were equally fascinated and enthralled by his first-person accounts. (13)He is eminently deserving of recognition for his decades of service to a grateful nation. (14)Lieutenant Commander Conter passed away in Grass Valley, California on April 1, 2024.

Name of Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic, Auburn, California

The Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Auburn, California, shall after the date of the enactment of this Act be known and designated as the Louis A. Conter VA Clinic. Any reference to such clinic in any law, regulation, map, document, record, or other paper of the United States shall be considered to be a reference to the Louis A. Conter VA Clinic.