[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1165-S1166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

 Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to 
thank the director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs and 
members of his staff for attending to the medical needs of MAJ James E. 
Gibson.
  Back in January of this year, I received a letter from Mrs. Barbara-
lea Gibson Wright of Bull Shoals, AR. Barbara wrote to me, soliciting 
help in extending her sincere gratitude to the Arkansas Department of 
Veterans Affairs for tending to the medical needs of her father with 
unfailing diligence until his unfortunate passing. Major Gibson was 
wounded in Omaha Beach back in 1944, and passed away at the age of 90 
in 2009. Although he lost the use of his right arm, Army doctors and 
nurses brought him back from the brink of death on multiple occasions. 
Major Gibson eventually retired and was able to live a long and 
prosperous life with his wife and children thanks to the superior 
medical attention he

[[Page S1166]]

received from the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.
  In fiscal year 2009, there were more than 3 million Americans 
receiving VA disability compensation, with 41,000 of them receiving 
service in the State of Arkansas. The VA works tirelessly to address 
the needs of the American public, whether through times of peace, times 
of war, or times of grief.
  It is important that we recognize the accomplishments and extend our 
sincere thanks to the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs for not 
only a job well done, but for the men and women in desperate need of 
great service so evidently shown for Major Gibson. They make the State 
of Arkansas proud.

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