[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 93 (Monday, June 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S7454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. Coburn):
  S. 1585. A bill to designate the Department of Veterans Affairs 
Outpatient Clinic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the ``Ernest Childers 
Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic''; to the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise today for myself and on the behalf 
of my colleague, Dr. Coburn, to reintroduce a bill to honor the memory 
of an American hero and proud son from our great State of Oklahoma. 
Ernest Childers was the first Native American to receive the 
Congressional Medal of Honor. This is our Nation's highest military 
award and it was awarded to him by Congress ``for conspicuous gallantry 
and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in 
action.''
  Ernest Childers was born in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on February 1, 
1918 as the third of five children. His father died when he was young 
and he grew up mostly on a farm. His hunting skills in his youth 
provided much of the food for his family and formed the basis of a 
great military career.
  Ernest Childers enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard in 1937 while 
attending the Chilocco Indian School in north-central Oklahoma. He then 
went to Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, for basic training before being 
deployed to Africa in World War II. On September 22, 1943, despite a 
broken instep that forced him to crawl, Second Lieutenant Childers 
advanced against enemy machine gun nests in Oliveto, Italy, killing two 
snipers and capturing an enemy mortar observer in the process. His 
actions were instrumental in helping the Americans win the Battle of 
Oliveto and won him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He continued his 
career in the Army earning several other military awards including the 
Combat Infantry Badge, Europe and Africa Campaign Medals, The Purple 
Heart, The Bronze Star, and the Oklahoma Distinguished Service Cross. 
He retired from the Army in August of 1965 as a lieutenant colonel in 
Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Division.
  Ernest Childers passed away on March 17, 2005, and was Oklahoma's 
last Congressional Medal of Honor winner still living in the State. He 
was an honored guest of many Presidential inaugurations and as a Creek 
Indian, was named Oklahoma's Most Outstanding Indian by the Tulsa 
Chapter of the Council of American Indians in 1966. He once said ``The 
American Indian has only one country to defend, and when you're picked 
on, the American Indian never turns his back.'' I am proud and believe 
it is only appropriate to introduce once again this year a bill to 
rename the Department of Veterans Affairs' Outpatient Clinic in Tulsa, 
Oklahoma, the Ernest Childers Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient 
Clinic to honor the enduring legacy of a true hero and fine soldier. I 
ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1585

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF ERNEST CHILDERS DEPARTMENT OF 
                   VETERANS AFFAIRS OUTPATIENT CLINIC.

       (a) Designation.--The Department of Veterans Affairs 
     Outpatient Clinic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shall be known and 
     designated as the ``Ernest Childers Department of Veterans 
     Affairs Outpatient Clinic''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
     document, record, or other paper of the United States to the 
     outpatient clinic referred to in subsection (a) shall be 
     considered to be a reference to the ``Ernest Childers 
     Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic''.
                                 ______