[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H11399]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0915
                TRIBUTE TO S. SGT. HAMMETT L. BOWEN, JR.

  (Mr. BARR of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARR of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, in Vietnam in 1969, a platoon of 
men serving in the U.S. Army were advancing on a mission into enemy 
controlled territory when a crossfire of small arms erupted and 
grenades began exploding.
  An enemy grenade was thrown directly at S. Sgt. Hammett L. Bowen, 
Jr., and his men just as Sergeant Brown shouted a warning. Fearlessly, 
Sergeant Bowen thrust himself on the grenade, absorbing the explosion 
and saving the lives of his fellow soldiers, but sacrificing his own.
  For his heroic bravery, Sergeant Bowen, a La Grange, GA, native, was 
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Hammett will also now be 
remembered by tens of thousands of travelers each year, when they 
travel Route 109 east in La Grange, now known as the Hammett L. Bowen, 
Jr. Memorial Highway.
  I commend the Georgia Department of Transportation, as well as other 
State and local authorities for recognizing Hammett's sacrifice. As 
Americans, we owe our lives to the many men and women who serve our 
country, just as Staff Sergeant Bowen did, and who make it a safer and 
freer place in which all of us might live and prosper.

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