[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.
____________________