[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 92 (Friday, June 10, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING TOMMY L. McCULLOUGH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 10, 2016

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
remarkable public servant, Mr. Tommy L. McCullough, who was born in 
Pickens, Madison County, Mississippi to the late parents of W.E.L. and 
Classie McCullough. He was the youngest of twenty siblings where ten 
(10) were added by marriage.
  Mr. Tommy L. McCullough was raised in Valley View, Mississippi and 
attended Nichols School until the eighth grade. Later he went to 
Cameron Street High School and left to go to the Army while he was in 
the 12th grade.
  Mr. McCullough entered the Army on December 13, 1954, he was in the 
25th Division at Scofield Barracks in Hawaii. While there an Honor 
Guard was formed after a few months and height requirements were 5 feet 
10 inches tall, but because he was sharp and intelligent he was chosen 
to be a Guard, although he was 5 feet 8 inches tall. They later changed 
the title from Guard to Drill Platoon. No one could handle a rifle the 
way Mr. McCullough handled it and he was recognized with many letters 
of congratulations for his performance in the Drill Platoon, he also 
went to the Non-Commission Officer Academy and received a diploma. 
Within two years he went from a Private to SP3 (Specialist 3rd class). 
There he stayed until his discharge on November 27, 1956 and went back 
to Jackson, Mississippi.
  He had many friends who were Civil Rights Activist, one of them was a 
Freedom Rider, Mr. Jake Freeze, who was one of the leaders in the 
Freedom Riders Movement that lived in his house in 1963, which was 
later called the Freedom House in Madison County. Pictures are on the 
wall of the Civil Rights Museum in Canton, Mississippi, today.
  Mr. McCullough afterwards moved to Louisville, KY in 1965. He worked 
at Harshaws Chemical Company for about five years. He missed 
Mississippi so much that he came back and opened up a night club, Billa 
Farro, for five years in Jackson and later opened a Car Dealership, TC 
and III, and then he retired.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mr. Tommy 
L McCullough for his dedication to serving others

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