[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 30 (Monday, March 14, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H1406-H1407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NAVY AND MARINE CORPS ARE A TEAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I am back on the floor 
again. This will be the third year that the House Committee on Armed 
Services has supported a bill that I have put in to rename the 
Department of Navy to be Navy and Marine Corps.
  Both the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Air Force and the Army have 
great histories, and I think the American people know and respect each 
and every one of them. But the Marine Corps does not have a Secretary 
of the Navy/Marine Corps.
  The Marine Corps, in my opinion, deserves to have and it is about 
time that we recognize the four services equally and respectfully of 
each one of them.
  Quite frankly, for two Congresses over the last 30 years, the 
Congresses have passed legislation that has said that we have four 
separate services, four separate services: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, 
and Air Force. And actually the Navy and Marine Corps are a team. And 
this is said so many times in the Committee on Armed Services. I have 
been on it for 10 years, and every time the commandant of the Marine 
Corps comes in or the CNO of the Navy or the admiral comes in or the 
Secretary of the Navy, they all say we are a fighting team. We are a 
team. We are this and we are that.
  I agree with that, and I have great respect for both, but my question 
is why is the Marine Corps not recognized for its greatness? The Navy 
is great. The Army is great. The Air Force is great. Yet, we do not 
have a Department of Navy/Marine Corps. We do not have a Secretary of 
Navy/Marine Corps.

                              {time}  1930

  Mr. Speaker, tonight I brought on the floor an enlargement of the 
official letter of the Secretary of Navy to a Marine named Sergeant 
Michael Bitts. Sergeant Bitts was killed at the battle of Nasiriyah. He 
left a wife and three children, twins that he never saw. They were born 
after he was deployed.
  It so happened that about a year ago the Department of Navy decided 
that Sergeant Bitts deserved and earned the Silver Star for valor in 
Iraq. What my colleagues see tonight, Mr. Speaker, is an enlargement of 
the citation itself and it says at the top, the official heading says 
Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D.C., ZIP code, and then to the left 
it has the Navy flag.
  My question would be, Mr. Speaker, to the House and Senate, is, yes, 
this is

[[Page H1407]]

one wonderful way to remember a man who gave his life for his country 
who happened to be a Marine, but Mr. Speaker, I wonder if it would not 
mean more to his children, 10 and 15 years down the road, if the second 
post behind it, I have had an enlargement made of what it should be, 
which it says at the top, Mr. Speaker, it says the Secretary of Navy 
and Marine Corps, with the Navy flag and the Marine flag.
  Mr. Speaker, this is what it is all about. This is a team, and I 
think it is time that the House, which has for 3 years, and now the 
Senate, seriously look at making the Department of Navy, Navy and 
Marine Corps, and I hope that this will be the year, 2005, that this 
will happen.
  Again, I want to praise everyone in uniform, whether it be Army, 
Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and thank them for their service.
  Mr. Speaker, as I close tonight, I want to say, I ask the good Lord 
to bless our men and women in uniform and their families. I ask God to 
please bless the families who have lost loved ones, in His loving arms 
to hold them, and God, I ask the good Lord to please bless America, to 
please bless the House and Senate that we will do what is right. I ask 
God to bless the President with wisdom, strength and courage to do what 
is right for this Nation. Three times I ask God bless, God bless, God 
bless America.

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