[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 27 (Friday, February 10, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    TRIBUTE TO RICHARD L. ROUDEBUSH

                                 ______


                        HON. ANDREW JACOBS, JR.

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 10, 1995
  Mr. JACOBS. Mr. Speaker, Dick Roudebush was the veteran's veteran.
  His military record was one of selfless sacrifice and defying danger. 
He was an extraordinary patriot. And he was a member of the U.S. House 
of Representatives for 10 years beginning in 1961.
  As can be seen by the following, he was also head of the Veterans' 
Administration. Any veteran who got his disability check on time during 
the seventies owes some gratitude to the fine administration provided 
by Dick Roudebush.
  More important, he was a nice man, pleasant and friendly.
  All Americans are diminished by the passing of the Honorable Richard 
L. Roudebush. He was my friend.
              [From the Indianapolis News, Jan. 30, 1995]

              Richard L. Roudebush, Congressman, VA Chief

       Noblesville, IN.--Richard L. Roudebush, 77, former five-
     term congressman who became director of the Veterans 
     Administration, died Saturday.
       Mr. Roudebush died of complications from pneumonia at 
     Doctors Hospital in Sarasota, Fla., where he also kept a 
     home.
       Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday in Randall & Roberts 
     Logan Street Chapel, with calling from 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday 
     and Thursday.
       Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery.
       In 1974, President Gerald R. Ford nominated his former 
     Republican congressional colleague as administrator of 
     veterans affairs. Mr. Roudebush's nomination was confirmed by 
     the Senate Oct. 1, 1974.
       The agency served more than 29 million veterans, had 
     200,000 employees and an annual budget of about $14 billion.
       Mr. Roudebush returned to his Noblesville farm in January 
     1977 after the election of Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
       In May 1982, President Reagan signed a law renaming the 
     Veterans Administration Medical Center in Indianapolis as the 
     Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
       Mr. Roudebush graduated from Butler University in 1941 with 
     a degree in business administration. He was a member of Sigma 
     Chi Fraternity. In 1969, he received an honorary doctorate 
     from Butler.
       He enlisted in the Army about a month before the attack on 
     Pearl Harbor and was shipped out in September 1942 to Egypt, 
     where he was assigned to the Suez Canal Command and served 
     with British forces during five major battles in North 
     Africa.
       In the invasion of Italy, his landing craft was sunk. Mr. 
     Roudebush joined the newly formed 15th Air Force and helped 
     clear explosives from captured enemy airfields.
       After his discharge at Camp Atterbury in October 1944, he 
     became a service officer with the Department of Indiana 
     Veterans of Foreign Wars and was stationed at the 
     Indianapolis VA Regional office seven years.
       He also served eight years on the Indiana Veterans 
     Commission and chaired that body six years.
       He became state commander of the Indiana VFW Department in 
     1953. In 1954 he became chief of staff in the National VFW 
     and was elected national commander in chief at the VFW 
     convention at Miami Beach in 1957.
       Mr. Roudebush first was elected to Congress in 1960.
       In November 1970, Mr. Roudebush, the GOP nominee for the 
     U.S. Senate, lost to former Sen. Vance Hartke by 4,000 votes 
     out of nearly 2 million cast.
       In the House of Representatives, he was on the House 
     District Committee and the House Un-American Activities 
     Committee. Mr. Roudebush was best known as a ranking member 
     of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics and for 
     his work on countless bills benefiting veterans.
       A personal friend of all the early astronauts, Mr. 
     Roudebush was instrumental in pushing through America's early 
     space program from Alan Shephard's pioneering liftoff on 
     through Mercury, Gemini and Apollo efforts. He was awarded 
     the VFW National Space Award in 1971.
       He was seriously injured in a private plane crash Aug. 19, 
     1968, while returning to Indiana from the Republican National 
     Convention at Miami. Campaigning from his hospital bed, he 
     won the November 1968 congressional election by his widest 
     margin ever and led the entire Republican slate in Indiana.
       In January 1971, he became a consultant to the 
     administrator of veterans affairs, and on June 7, 1971, he 
     was named to the No. 4 position in the VA as assistant deputy 
     administrator. On Jan. 18, 1974, he was promoted to deputy 
     administrator of the VA.
       In September 1979, he was elected chairman of the advisory 
     board for Veterans Insurance Services, a subsidiary of the 
     National Liberty Group of companies in Valley Forge, Pa.
       Mr. Roudebush was awarded life memberships in the American 
     Legion, the Disabled American Veterans and AMVETS.
       He was a member of Refuge Christian Church, Noblesville.
       Memorial contributions may be made to the donor's favorite 
     charity.
       Survivors: wife Marjorie Elliott Roudebush; son Roy 
     ``Chip'' L. Roudebush; daughter Karen Roudebush; brother 
     William Roudebush; a granddaughter.
     

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