[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 110 (Monday, July 23, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5112-H5113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        ARMY FIRST SERGEANT DAVID McNERNEY POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Ms. BUERKLE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3477) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, as the Army First 
Sergeant David McNerney Post Office Building.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3477

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

     SECTION 1. ARMY FIRST SERGEANT DAVID MCNERNEY POST OFFICE 
                   BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, shall be 
     known and designated as the ``Army First Sergeant David 
     McNerney Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post 
     Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from

[[Page H5113]]

New York (Ms. Buerkle) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Ms. BUERKLE. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 
legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. BUERKLE. I yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor of 
this legislation, my distinguished colleague from Texas (Mr. Poe).
  Mr. POE of Texas. I thank the gentlelady from New York for yielding 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, it was the Vietnam war. It was March 1967--45 years ago.
  Army First Sergeant David McNerney's company was sent to recover a 
missing American Army reconnaissance team. As his company approached 
that reconnaissance team, they walked into heavy fire from the 
Vietnamese Army. McNerney was soon wounded by a grenade, and the 
commander was killed, but Sergeant McNerney took control of the 
situation.
  Injury could not deter this patriot.
  He climbed a tree, exposing his position to heavy enemy fire, and 
called in close artillery fire. After that occurred, he personally 
destroyed an enemy machine gun. And always thinking of others, he 
personally pulled wounded soldiers to safety and secured a landing zone 
for medical helicopters that were approaching.

                              {time}  1820

  He had the chance to evacuate that evening, but he refused and 
remained with his troops overnight on the battlefield until a new 
commander arrived the next day. His actions stopped the enemy advance 
and saved many of his own men's lives. These actions of heroism earned 
David McNerney the Congressional Medal of Honor presented to him by 
Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1968.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a fairly recent photograph of First Sergeant 
David McNerney. He kind of looks like Clint Eastwood to me and he's 
just as tough, because I knew him for a good number of years until he 
died in 2010.
  This was not where Sergeant McNerney's service to America would end 
on that battlefield in Vietnam. He started really serving the United 
States when he joined the United States Navy right out of St. Thomas 
High School in Houston, Texas. He did two tours of duty in the Korean 
War.
  After leaving the Navy in 1953, he joined the United States Army, and 
was one of the first 500 so-called ``advisers'' sent to Vietnam by 
President Kennedy in 1962. The acts that earned McNerney the Medal of 
Honor came on his third tour of duty in Vietnam. After he received the 
Congressional Medal of Honor, First Sergeant David McNerney from 
Crosby, Texas, volunteered for another tour of duty in Vietnam.
  Mr. Speaker, those were amazing men that served America in the 
Vietnam War. First Sergeant McNerney served with thousands of other 
Vietnam troops and generally were not appreciated by America when they 
returned back home after doing what their country asked them to do.
  After he retired from the Army in 1969, he worked in the Customs 
Service at the Port of Houston until 1995. He served his country for 46 
years in the United States Navy, United States Army, and the Customs 
Service.
  After all of his work and service, he worked in the community in 
Crosby. He led by example, with his involvement in the Crosby High 
School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and the Crosby American 
Legion Post 658.
  First Sergeant McNerney died in Texas on October 10, 2010, at the age 
of 79, still a patriot. He called his hometown Crosby, and they called 
him their hero. Crosby American Legion Post 658 is named for him.
  Mr. Speaker, Crosby, Texas, like many of the towns mentioned in the 
last few resolutions and bills, is a small town in America. It's an 
old-fashioned, flag-waving patriotic town that honors our returning 
veterans from Iraq and from Afghanistan.
  First Sergeant McNerney's bravery and commitment to our country and 
community is well worth the acknowledgement by naming a post office 
after him, at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, the Army First Sergeant 
David McNerney Post Office.
  Mr. Speaker, men like Army First Sergeant David McNerney are the 
reason our country has always had the best military in history.
  And that's just the way it is.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to again join my 
friend and colleague from Texas in honoring this brave man. Serving as 
many tours of duty in Vietnam was a rare event in that era than the 
tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was particularly 
noteworthy.
  I'm pleased to urge my colleagues to join with Judge Poe and our 
other colleagues in support of H.R. 3477 in order to designate the 
facility of the United States Postal Service located at 133 Hare Road 
in Crosby, Texas, as the Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post Office 
Building, and I urge its adoption.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. BUERKLE. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage 
of H.R. 3477, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Buerkle) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3477.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

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