[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2693 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.2693

                     One Hundred Fourteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the sixth day of January, two thousand and fifteen


                                 An Act


 
   To designate the arboretum at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical 
 Center in Richmond, Virginia, as the ``Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum''.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
    Congress makes the following findings:
        (1) Phyllis Eason Galanti, a tireless advocate for the rights 
    of prisoners of war from the United States during the Vietnam War 
    and a beloved member of the Richmond, Virginia, community, died on 
    April 23, 2014.
        (2) Ms. Eason graduated from the College of William and Mary in 
    1963 and shortly afterward was married to Paul Edward Galanti, a 
    pilot with the United States Navy, at the Chapel of the Centurion 
    in Fort Monroe, Virginia.
        (3) In June 1966, when Mr. Galanti was shot down over North 
    Vietnam, captured, and held prisoner, Phyllis E. Galanti became 
    active in the National League of Families of American Prisoners and 
    Missing in Southeast Asia, soon becoming chair of the organization.
        (4) Mrs. Galanti spearheaded the Let's Bring Paul Galanti Home 
    project as part of the national Write Hanoi campaign--
            (A) to raise awareness;
            (B) to secure the return of more than 600 soldiers from the 
        United States who were missing in action or held as prisoners 
        of war in Vietnam; and
            (C) to ensure that prisoners of war were treated in 
        accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
        (5) The efforts of Mrs. Galanti under the Let's Bring Paul 
    Galanti Home project, the most successful of many such campaigns, 
    resulted in more than 1,000,000 letters that were personally 
    delivered to the North Vietnamese embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, in 
    1971.
        (6) Mrs. Galanti became known as ``Fearless Phyllis'', 
    traveling to Versailles, France, seeking an audience with North 
    Vietnamese leaders, and giving hundreds of presentations to policy 
    leaders in the United States, including President Richard Nixon, 
    National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, and Virginia Governor 
    Mills E. Godwin, Jr., who said of her in 1975, ``One dedicated 
    woman and a handful of others had more influence on the communist 
    world than legions of armies and diplomats.''.
        (7) After more than seven years apart, Mrs. Galanti was 
    reunited with her husband Paul Galanti at the Naval Air Station in 
    Norfolk, Virginia, on February 15, 1973.
        (8) Mrs. Galanti spent decades confronting the issue of 
    prisoners and hostages from the United States, not only in Vietnam 
    but also in the Soviet Union and Iran.
        (9) Mrs. Galanti actively supported the Virginia Home, Theatre 
    IV, and the Virginia Repertory Theatre, visited schools, and 
    continued to meet with lawmakers until she died on April 23, 2014, 
    at age 73, from complications with leukemia.
        (10) The work of Mrs. Galanti earned her the American Legion 
    Service Medal, and the Paul and Phyllis Galanti Education Center at 
    the Virginia War Memorial was named in honor of her and her 
    husband.
        (11) The leadership at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical 
    Center in Richmond, Virginia, including Director John Brandecker, 
    seeks to recognize Mrs. Galanti by naming the arboretum at Hunter 
    Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in her honor.
        (12) It is a fitting tribute that Congress name the arboretum 
    after such an outstanding advocate for members of the Armed Forces 
    of the United States and veterans.
SEC. 2. PHYLLIS E. GALANTI ARBORETUM AT HUNTER HOLMES MCGUIRE VA 
MEDICAL CENTER IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.
    (a) Designation.--The arboretum at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA 
Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, shall after the date of the 
enactment of this Act be known and designated as the ``Phyllis E. 
Galanti Arboretum''.
    (b) References.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the arboretum 
referred to in subsection (a) shall be considered to be a reference to 
the Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.