[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 3 (Monday, January 14, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H64]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         HELP FOR ALL VETERANS

  (Mr. Coffman asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COFFMAN. Madam Speaker, in 1969 I did volunteer work at an Army 
hospital located in Aurora, Colorado, with a Junior Red Cross. This was 
at the height of the war in Vietnam and wounded soldiers were arriving 
at the hospital daily. Most were amputees who had lost their legs to 
mines and booby traps.
  Sadly, as America became increasingly divided over the war in Vietnam 
they also became divided over their support for those who fought in 
that war. As a result, these wounded soldiers were unappreciated, 
isolated, and largely forgotten. To make matters worse, after they were 
stabilized, they were sent for their rehabilitation to VA facilities 
that were often substandard.
  I look forward to using my new leadership position as the chairman 
for the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee of the House Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs to help all veterans who have served our country 
and have earned our support.
  I want to do everything in my power to make sure that our Iraq and 
Afghanistan veterans are never treated like those who returned from 
Vietnam.

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