[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 143 (Friday, September 23, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SUPPORT OF NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH FROM SEPTEMBER 15-OCTOBER 
 15, 2011, RECOGNIZING THE SERVICE OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALFRED RASCON 
AND THE 41 MEN OF HISPANIC HERITAGE WHO HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE MEDAL OF 
                                 HONOR

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ROSCOE G. BARTLETT

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 23, 2011

  Mr. BARTLETT. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage 
Month, I want to salute Army Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Rascon of 
Laurel, Maryland, one of the 41 men of Hispanic heritage who have 
received our military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor.
  Alfred Rascon was born in Mexico, but joined the Army after 
graduating from high school in California. He explained, ``I 
volunteered to join the military and serve in Vietnam [before I became 
a citizen] because I was always an American in my heart.''
  While serving as a medic, Rascon's reconnaissance platoon came under 
fierce enemy attack in thick jungle on March 16, 1966. Rascon 
repeatedly used his own body as a shield against withering fire and 
saved the lives of two wounded buddies and tried in vain to save the 
life of a third. Despite wounds from gunfire, shrapnel and a grenade 
explosion in his face, he raced into a hail of bullets and recovered an 
M-60 machine gun and ammunition. That action turned the tide of the 
encounter and may well have saved the lives of his entire platoon. 
Rascon refused evacuation before other injured buddies.
  Alfred Rascon served two more combat tours in Vietnam and also served 
additional tours since 2001 in Iraq and Afghanistan. He continues to 
serve our country speaking to our youth. America is blessed by 
generations of immigrant Medal of Honor recipients like Alfred Rascon. 
They are heroes who sacrificed themselves to save the lives of others 
and put their newly adopted country above their own self-interest. 
There is no greater love than a man lay down his life for a friend.

                          ____________________