[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 91 (Thursday, June 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1392]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO NAME A POST OFFICE IN EAST CHICAGO, INDIANA 
                   AFTER LANCE CORPORAL HAROLD GOMEZ

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                        HON. PETER J. VISCLOSKY

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 24, 1999

  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, today I was joined by the other nine 
members of the Indiana House delegation in introducing legislation to 
name a post office in East Chicago, Indiana, after a true hero of my 
congressional district, Marine Corps Lance Corporal Harold Gomez. Lance 
Corporal Gomez was the first citizen of Northwest Indiana to give his 
life for his country during the Vietnam War. My colleagues and I firmly 
believe that the time has come to honor him in a way that will value 
his memory and his sacrifice. To name a post office after Lance 
Corporal Gomez, a place that is synonymous in our country with the 
center of a community's life, is an appropriate way to accomplish this 
worthy goal.
  Lance Corporal Gomez was born in East Chicago in 1946 and graduated 
from East Chicago's Washington High School in June 1965. After working 
briefly at Inland Steel Company, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps 
and was ordered to Vietnam in 1966. A fire team leader in a rifle 
company of the Third Marine Division, a land mine killed Lance Corporal 
Gomez on February 21, 1967, while on duty in South Vietnam. For his 
valiant leadership and bravery during that day's combat, the Marine 
Corps posthumously awarded him the Silver Star Medal. Lance Corporal 
Gomez was also awarded the Purple Heart Medal, a Combat Action Ribbon, 
a Presidential Unit Citation, the National Defense Service Medal, the 
Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Rifle Sharpshooters Badge.
  In Harold Gomez's all-too-brief life, he touched many lives and was 
admired by friends and comrades alike. I consider it a privilege to 
take this opportunity to honor a true hero who still serves us now as a 
source of inspiration to the citizens of East Chicago and the whole of 
Northwest Indiana. On behalf of those citizens from my district who 
answered their country's call, those who made it home and those who did 
not, I am proud to introduce this legislation to name an East Chicago 
post office in honor of Lance Corporal Harold Gomez.

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