[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 177 (Tuesday, December 8, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H9063]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PHYLLIS E. GALANTI ARBORETUM

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further 
consideration of the bill (H.R. 2693) to designate the arboretum at the 
Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, as the 
``Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum'', and ask for its immediate 
consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2693

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

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Phyllis Eason Galanti, a tireless advocate for the 
     rights of prisoners of war from the United States during the 
     Vietnam War and a beloved member of the Richmond, Virginia, 
     community, died on April 23, 2014.
       (2) Ms. Eason graduated from the College of William and 
     Mary in 1963 and shortly afterward was married to Paul Edward 
     Galanti, a pilot with the United States Navy, at the Chapel 
     of the Centurion in Fort Monroe, Virginia.
       (3) In June 1966, when Mr. Galanti was shot down over North 
     Vietnam, captured, and held prisoner, Phyllis E. Galanti 
     became active in the National League of Families of American 
     Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, soon becoming chair 
     of the organization.
       (4) Mrs. Galanti spearheaded the Let's Bring Paul Galanti 
     Home project as part of the national Write Hanoi campaign--
       (A) to raise awareness;
       (B) to secure the return of more than 600 soldiers from the 
     United States who were missing in action or held as prisoners 
     of war in Vietnam; and
       (C) to ensure that prisoners of war were treated in 
     accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
       (5) The efforts of Mrs. Galanti under the Let's Bring Paul 
     Galanti Home project, the most successful of many such 
     campaigns, resulted in more than 1,000,000 letters that were 
     personally delivered to the North Vietnamese embassy in 
     Stockholm, Sweden, in 1971.
       (6) Mrs. Galanti became known as ``Fearless Phyllis'', 
     traveling to Versailles, France, seeking an audience with 
     North Vietnamese leaders, and giving hundreds of 
     presentations to policy leaders in the United States, 
     including President Richard Nixon, National Security Advisor 
     Henry Kissinger, and Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr., 
     who said of her in 1975, ``One dedicated woman and a handful 
     of others had more influence on the communist world than 
     legions of armies and diplomats.''.
       (7) After more than seven years apart, Mrs. Galanti was 
     reunited with her husband Paul Galanti at the Naval Air 
     Station in Norfolk, Virginia, on February 15, 1973.
       (8) Mrs. Galanti spent decades confronting the issue of 
     prisoners and hostages from the United States, not only in 
     Vietnam but also in the Soviet Union and Iran.
       (9) Mrs. Galanti actively supported the Virginia Home, 
     Theatre IV, and the Virginia Repertory Theatre, visited 
     schools, and continued to meet with lawmakers until she died 
     on April 23, 2014, at age 73, from complications with 
     leukemia.
       (10) The work of Mrs. Galanti earned her the American 
     Legion Service Medal, and the Paul and Phyllis Galanti 
     Education Center at the Virginia War Memorial was named in 
     honor of her and her husband.
       (11) The leadership at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical 
     Center in Richmond, Virginia, including Director John 
     Brandecker, seeks to recognize Mrs. Galanti by naming the 
     arboretum at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in her 
     honor.
       (12) It is a fitting tribute that Congress name the 
     arboretum after such an outstanding advocate for members of 
     the Armed Forces of the United States and veterans.

     SEC. 2. PHYLLIS E. GALANTI ARBORETUM AT HUNTER HOLMES MCGUIRE 
                   VA MEDICAL CENTER IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

       (a) Designation.--The arboretum at the Hunter Holmes 
     McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, shall after 
     the date of the enactment of this Act be known and designated 
     as the ``Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     arboretum referred to in subsection (a) shall be considered 
     to be a reference to the Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum.

  The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read 
the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the 
table.

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