[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2549 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2549

  To name the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, as the ``Henry Parham VA 
                               Clinic''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 26, 2023

  Mr. Fetterman (for himself and Mr. Casey) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To name the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, as the ``Henry Parham VA 
                               Clinic''.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Henry Parham was born in Emporia, Virginia, in November 
        1921.
            (2) At age 21, Henry Parham was drafted into the Army and 
        shipped out to England in 1943 with the 320th Barrage Balloon 
        Battalion in preparation for the D-Day invasions.
            (3) The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a segregated Army 
        unit, consisted of approximately 700 African-American soldiers 
        with the mission of hoisting barrage balloons designed to 
        entangle incoming German planes and prevent them from 
        conducting strafing runs on ground troops.
            (4) On June 6, 1944, Private First Class Henry Parham and 
        his section of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion landed at 
        Omaha Beach. With the threat of enemy sniper and rifle fire 
        ever present, PFC Parham's unit performed their duties, 
        hoisting their barrage balloons 2,000 feet into the air over 
        the beachhead in Normandy.
            (5) For two months, Private First Class Henry Parham and 
        the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion stood watch at Omaha Beach, 
        keeping the pipeline of incoming supplies and Allied troops 
        secure before returning to the United States in September 1944.
            (6) After his service, Henry Parham moved to Wilkinsburg, 
        Pennsylvania, where he lived and worked as a heavy equipment 
        operator until 1986. There, he met and married his wife, Ethel 
        Parham, to whom he was married for more than 45 years.
            (7) Henry Parham died on July 4, 2021, in Pittsburgh, 
        Pennsylvania, at the age of 99. He was survived by his wife, 
        Ethel, both of whom served for decades as volunteers at the 
        medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in 
        Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and local chapters of veterans 
        service organizations.
            (8) Henry Parham was the last surviving African-American 
        combat veteran who took part in the D-Day landings on June 6, 
        1944.

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF HENRY PARHAM DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
              CLINIC.

    (a) Designation.--The community-based outpatient clinic of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, shall 
after the date of the enactment of this Act be known and designated as 
the ``Henry Parham Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic'' or the 
``Henry Parham VA Clinic''.
    (b) Reference.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the community-
based outpatient clinic referred to in subsection (a) shall be 
considered to be a reference to the Henry Parham VA Clinic.
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