[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 145 (Tuesday, November 12, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10832-S10833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IN REMEMBRANCE OF BRIGADIER GENERAL VORLEY (MIKE) REXROAD

  Mr. THURMOND. Madam President, I rise to pay tribute to Brigadier 
General Vorley (Mike) Rexroad, USAF (Retired), who died on October 12, 
2002, after a life of distinguished service to the Military Health 
System, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 
(USUHS), and our Nation.
  Vorley (Mike) Rexroad, a native West Virginian born on April 6, 1915, 
earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Glenville State College, 
Glenville, West Virginia in 1938 and his Masters in American Government 
at the University of New Mexico in 1948. Mike Rexroad joined the Army 
Air Corps on December 9, 1941, and began 61 years of service to his 
Nation and dedication to military medicine. In 1944, following both air 
flight and commando training, Lieutenant Rexroad was assigned to the 
British 14th Army Headquarters in Burma. At the conclusion of World War 
II in 1945, Captain Rexroad led the first American task force into the 
prisoner of war camp in Thailand. His task force included physicians 
and medical corpsmen; it was during this emotion-packed time when Mike 
Rexroad developed his sincere appreciation for military medicine.
  After his release from active duty, Mike Rexroad accepted a faculty 
appointment at New York University, NY, however, in June of 1950, with 
the onset of the Korean War, Rexroad was called to active duty by the 
Air Force

[[Page S10833]]

and assigned to the Office of Special Investigations/
Counterintelligence. When the war ended, Major Rexroad was selected to 
head one of the debriefing and interview teams for some 500 Air Force 
prisoners of war following their release from the North Korean prison 
camps. This experience reinforced Mike Rexroad's appreciation of 
military medicine's critical requirements for continuity and 
leadership. From 1955 through 1976, Mike Rexroad served as a 
professional staff member on Capitol Hill; he first served on the staff 
of Senator Dennis Chavez of New Mexico who was the chairman of the 
Subcommittee for the Department of Defense. Next he was selected by 
Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi to serve as the senior staff 
member for the Subcommittee on Military Construction; and, continued to 
serve in that capacity for Senator Alan Bible of Nevada. From 1965 to 
1976, he was appointed by Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana, Majority 
Leader of the Senate and chairman of the Subcommittee on Military 
Construction, to serve as the senior staff member for the subcommittee.
  Following his service in both World War II and the Korean War, his 
review of the medical capabilities during the Vietnam War for the U.S. 
Senate, and 20 years as a senior member of Senate Committee Staffs, 
Mike Rexroad became dedicated to preserving the lessons learned in 
military medicine; he concurred with Congressman F. Edward Hebert's 
philosophy that America needed an academic home for military medicine. 
In the early 1970s, Rexroad prepared documentation and memoranda for 
presentation to the Senate Appropriations Committee to justify the 
establishment of USUHS and the need for continuity and leadership in 
military medicine. Following the passage of Public Law 92-426, the 
Uniformed Services Health Professions Revitalization Act of 1972, the 
senior administration of USUHS worked directly with Mike Rexroad to 
coordinate the construction requirements for USUHS.
  In 1977, when closure threatened USUHS, the now-retired Mike Rexroad 
again volunteered to raise Congressional support for the University. At 
that time, no funding had been appropriated for USUHS. On March 21, 
1977 due to Rexroad's intervention, the Chairman of the Select 
Committee on Aging, Congressman Claude Pepper, testified on behalf of 
USUHS and strongly endorsed the continuation of the University; the 
Members of the House of Representatives voted to retain USUHS with of 
vote of 264 to 142. The Honorable David Packard, first chairman of the 
USUHS Board of Regents, succinctly described Mike Rexroad's vital role 
in two letters to Rexroad dated July 12, 1976 and May 10, 1977: ``It is 
no exaggeration to say that without your assistance USUHS could and 
would not have been established (1976). Without your help, it is 
questionable whether the school would have continued to enjoy the 
support of the Congress (1977).'' From 1993 through 1997, Rexroad was 
once more called upon to raise congressional support for the 
University. In May of 1996, the Members of the House of Representatives 
once more voted on the retention of USUHS. This time, with the 
tremendous support and coordination of the military retired 
associations, the vote to retain USUHS was 343 to 82. By November of 
1997, the Secretary of Defense determined that USUHS should remain 
open; on December 11, 2000, the Honorable William S. Cohen, the 
Secretary of Defense, awarded the Joint Meritorious Unit Award to the 
University; and, on March 22, 2001, the Honorable Donald Rumsfeld, 
Secretary of Defense, wrote the following to the Chair of the USUHS 
Board of Regents:

       The Department takes great pride in the fact that the USUHS 
     graduates have become the backbone for our Military Health 
     System. The training they receive in combat and peacetime 
     medicine is essential to providing superior force health 
     protection and improving the quality of life for our service 
     members, retirees, and families. All of us in the Office of 
     the Secretary of Defense place great emphasis on the 
     retention of quality physicians in the military. The USUHS 
     ensures those goals are met.'' In addition, the Association 
     of American Medical Colleges Reporter pointed out in the 
     December issues of both 1998 and 2001, that USUHS is the one 
     medical school where students have been, and continue to be, 
     trained in the medical response to weapons of mass 
     destruction (WMD). ``Today, while the other medical schools 
     are in the process of initiating programs and training in 
     WMD, USUHS has been providing such education since its first 
     School of Medicine (SOM) Class of 1980; 3,265 SOM graduates 
     and 157 advanced practice nurses have now had this training. 
     The USUHS SOM graduates currently represent 22 percent of the 
     physicians on active duty in the Military Health System; thus 
     ensuring continuity and leadership for military medicine.

  During his many years of support for USUHS, Mike Rexroad constantly 
acted upon his personal knowledge of what can go wrong when continuity 
and leadership are not ensured for military medicine. USUHS became a 
part of his overall commitment to the preservation of the hard-won 
knowledge of the battlefield, the absolute priorities of preventive 
medicine, the tremendous achievements of uniformed research, and the 
need for an academic home for military medicine. At the USUHS 
Commencement Exercises on May 15, 1998, Mike Rexroad received the 
Doctor of Medical Humanities, Honoris Causa; the honorary degree 
recognized his unfailing, consistent, and dynamic advocacy for USUHS 
and military medicine. Through his 87th year, there was no request from 
his military medical family for which he did not volunteer his time and 
effort; he played an essential role in making continuity and leadership 
a reality for military medicine.
  Brigadier General Vorley (Mike) Rexroad USAF, (Retired), was an 
extremely gifted, resourceful, and dedicated American. The citizens of 
our Nation have immeasurably benefitted by his splendid record of 
accomplishments and commitment to military medicine. I extend my 
deepest sympathy to his wife, Ruth Cutlip Rexroad, formerly of New 
Mexico; his son, Michael David Rexroad, a state prosecuting attorney in 
Howard County, Maryland; his daughter-in-law, Linda; and, his two 
grandchildren, Michael and Laurie, on their great loss.

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