[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 25 (Monday, February 13, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H1104-H1106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ABIE ABRAHAM VA CLINIC
Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 609) to designate the Department of Veterans
Affairs health care center in Center Township, Butler County,
Pennsylvania, as the ``Abie Abraham VA Clinic''.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 609
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Abie Abraham of Lyndora, Pennsylvania, was stationed
during World War II with the 18th Infantry in New York; 3
years with the 14th Infantry in Panama; 15th Infantry,
unassigned in China, while the U.S.S. Panay was sunk; 30th
Infantry, Presidio, San Francisco; and the 31st Infantry,
Manila, Philippines, for 9 years.
(2) During World War II, Abraham fought, was captured,
endured the Bataan Death March and as a prisoner of war for
3\1/2\ years, was beaten, stabbed, shot, survived malaria and
starvation to be rescued by the 6th Rangers.
(3) Abraham stayed behind at the request of General Douglas
MacArthur for 2\1/2\ more years disinterring the bodies of
his fallen comrades from the Bataan Death March and the
prison camps, helping to identify their bodies and see that
they were properly laid to rest.
(4) After his promotion in 1945, Abraham came back to the
United States where he served as a recruiter and then also
served 2 years in Germany until his retirement with 30 years
of service as a Master Sergeant.
(5) Abraham received numerous medals for his service,
including the Purple Heart, and had several documentaries on
the Discovery Channel and History Channel.
(6) Abraham wrote the books ``Ghost of Bataan Speaks'' in
1971 and ``Oh, God, Where Are You'' in 1977 to help the
public better understand what our brave men endured at the
hands of the Imperial Japanese Army as prisoners of war.
(7) Abraham was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, the American Legion, the Purple Heart Combat/Infantry
Organization, the American Ex-POWs, the Disabled American
Veterans, and the American Defenders of Bataan.
(8) Abraham was a volunteer at Veterans Affairs Butler
Healthcare for 23 years from
[[Page H1105]]
1988 to 2011 and had 36,851 service hours caring for our
veterans.
SEC. 2. ABIE ABRAHAM VA CLINIC.
(a) Designation.--The Department of Veterans Affairs health
care center in Center Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania,
shall after the date of the enactment of this Act be known
and designated as the ``Abie Abraham VA Clinic''.
(b) References.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map,
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the
health care center referred to in subsection (a) shall be
deemed to be a reference to the ``Abie Abraham VA Clinic''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Tennessee (Mr. Roe) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.
General Leave
Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and add extraneous material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Tennessee?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 609, a bill to name the
Department of Veterans Affairs health care center in Center Township,
Butler County, Pennsylvania, the Abie Abraham VA Clinic.
This bill is sponsored by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Kelly), my good friend. I am grateful to him for introducing this
legislation in honor of an American hero.
Master Sergeant Abraham lived a truly remarkable life. As a teenager,
he set a world record for tree sitting--a popular pastime in those
days--after sitting in a tree for 3\1/2\ months, according to his
obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In 1932, at the age of just 19, he enlisted in the United States Navy
and, 2 years later, the United States Army. Over the course of a 30-
year military career, he served in the Philippines, China, Germany, and
Panama. He earned a number of accolades, including the Purple Heart. He
survived, Mr. Speaker, the Bataan Death March and 3\1/2\ years in
captivity, being beaten, shot, and starved.
Following his rescue, instead of returning immediately to the United
States, Master Sergeant Abraham agreed to stay behind to recover the
remains of his fallen comrades and to ensure they received the
recognition they were certainly due.
Following his service, Master Sergeant Abraham devoted his time to
caring for his fellow brothers and sisters in arms as a lifelong member
of several veterans service organizations and as a volunteer at the VA
Butler Healthcare Center, where he spent a total of almost 40,000 hours
over the course of 23 years tending to the veteran patients there.
In his spare time, he authored two books, made public appearances at
schools and community centers, and participated in documentary films
that have aired on the Discovery and History Channels. In addition to
all of that, he was also a lightweight boxing champion and trainer.
Master Sergeant Abraham most certainly lived a full and interesting
life characterized by both service in and out of uniform. Given that,
it is only fitting and appropriate that we honor him by naming the VA
healthcare center in Butler County, Pennsylvania, after him. This
legislation satisfies all the committee's naming criteria and is
supported by the Pennsylvania congressional delegation as well as many
VSOs.
Once again, I thank my colleague, Congressman Mike Kelly, for
introducing this bill. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in
supporting it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would, first of all, like to thank the chairman for bringing H.R.
609 to the floor, and a very special thank you to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly) for the honor and privilege to learn about
this great American. You heard a little bit of the story, and you will
hear more of it from Mr. Kelly. It is sometimes unimaginable that such
as Mr. Abraham walked amongst us.
I oftentimes hear that people disparage when Congress does naming
bills. If anyone was ever deserving of having a VA center named after
them, and the importance of attaching that name and the history for
those who come after, this is the gentleman.
You are going to hear more of this, but Mr. Abraham was born in
Lyndora, Pennsylvania. The stories just keep coming up. Apparently he
was gifted academically and, of course, was a boxer. Again, this is a
point of personal privilege on this, he was actually a Regimental
Sergeant Major for a time when he was in his service. He served in the
Philippines, China, Germany, and Panama. He survived the Bataan Death
March. Having been out on Corregidor Island and hearing the stories of
the people who survived, unimaginable horrors that they survived, and
then imagine after being rescued and being liberated and having a
chance to come home, Mr. Abraham chose to make sure that all of his
comrades came home.
He was a recipient of the Purple Heart and a lifelong member of the
VFW, the American Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the
American Ex-Prisoners of War Organization, the Disabled American
Veterans, and the American Defenders of Bataan; but I think the
chairman brought up something truly remarkable: giving 40,000 hours of
volunteer service to his fellow veterans. This Nation could ask no more
of a single person, and Mr. Abraham continued to give.
To the gentleman from Pennsylvania, the State of Pennsylvania is
represented well here. They were represented well by Mr. Abraham. It is
an honor and a privilege to support this piece of legislation. I
encourage my colleagues to not only support this, but to maybe go read
the bio of this great American.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), my friend and colleague.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman. I
brought with me today a picture of Master Sergeant Abraham. Now, I
never knew him when he looked like this. I knew him when he was much
older. I have got to tell you that to know Master Sergeant Abraham, you
would never have known what he had gone through in his life because all
of these folks from that time period just did what they had to do. When
you ask them, ``Why did you do it?'' they said, ``It wasn't an option.
It wasn't an option. We had to do it.'' There is just certain times in
our history that people rise up and they do things that are incredible,
ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Just being around Mr. Abraham for a long time--I never called him
Abie, by the way. I did not call him Abie. I always called him sergeant
or Mr. Abraham--I was just always so impressed with him. It is such an
honor and a privilege to be able to stand here in the people's House to
talk about a true American hero, somebody who was not just a patriot,
but was compassionate, somebody who never stopped serving his country
in so many different ways.
When I first read ``The Ghost of Bataan,'' I went back and I talked
to Mr. Abraham. I said: You never told me about these things.
He said: Oh, don't worry about that. Those were just things we had to
do.
I said: No, but what you did was incredible: to survive the Bataan
Death March, to be in a Japanese prison camp for 3\1/2\ years, to be
stabbed, to be shot, to be beaten, to survive malaria and starvation.
Did you ever think of trying to get away?
He said: Yeah, Mike, I did, but here was the thing: if one of us were
to escape, the Japanese soldiers would shoot 10 of the prisoners who
were still in the camp; so we didn't want to do that to any of our
colleagues. I watched them die. I held them as they died. We tried to
get them through the darkest times that we could.
I said: How did you endure?
He said: My faith. My faith.
That is how we all get through the darkest time, on both knees,
believing that God is there for us no matter what. But when you read
his books and you understand who this man was--and
[[Page H1106]]
I think the second book was the one that was incredible. Let me read
this because I just thought if there was anything that somebody did out
of love, it was Mr. Abraham.
His second book was ``Oh, God, Where Are You?'' I want you to think
of this as a prisoner of war who survived the Bataan Death March, who
watched his colleagues killed along the way, and if they fell down,
they got shot. Toward the end, when they fell down and they couldn't
move anymore, they were put into open graves, and they were told to go
ahead and cover the graves. He refused to do it. He said: They are
still moving.
So we come to today and we think about what it is that we as
Americans can do. What is it we can do? What is in our hearts? What is
in our memory? What about all those who came before us and what they
went through?
Mr. Abraham, as a child, went to school barefoot. His family didn't
have money to even buy him shoes, but he had a love for our Nation. He
had a love for his fellow man. He had a love for veterans that was just
incredible. But imagine the despair of being in that prison camp and
not knowing what was going on in the outside war.
I asked him: What did you do? How did you keep people's spirits up?
He said: I made up stories. I would tell them that I just heard there
was a rumor going through camp that our armies are close and they are
going to rescue us.
Think about that. They were clinging to a made-up story from this man
because he knew that is how he could keep their spirits up in the
darkest of times. He kind of smiled about it.
I said: That is incredible.
He said: Well, sometimes you have to do things a little different
just to get people's spirits up.
I want you to fast forward to who this man was. I watched him walk
with a cane as he got into his later years, in his eighties and
nineties, going to VA Butler Healthcare Center every single day to help
fellow veterans. His sole purpose in life was to help other American
citizens, to help other veterans, to bring a little light into their
life, to bring a little happiness into their life; 40,000 hours of
service in a VA center. He could have spent his time doing other
things, but he didn't. He chose to stay with those he loved. He chose
to serve those he loved. He chose to continue to serve even in his
retirement this Nation that he loved so much.
I can't tell you how much it means to be able to look at that new
health center going up and knowing that Mr. Abraham, from his new post,
is looking down and is so thankful to a grateful nation that we are
taking time to take care of those who have given everything they can to
make sure our Nation remains free.
This is an incredible time in our history. This has nothing to do
with parties. It has nothing to do with who you vote for. It has to do
with who we are, the fact that every single one of us has a role. I
would just ask people to please look into Abie Abraham. Go online and
see about Mr. Abraham. Go and see what Master Sergeant Abraham did, and
say: If I could just be a little bit like Abie Abraham, the world would
be a better place. For all those who have died in the service of our
country, they will rest easier.
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers and I am
prepared to close.
I would just like to thank the gentleman again for bringing this to
our attention, honoring Master Sergeant Abraham's life. Again, I think
there is a little lesson here of how we conduct ourselves reflects on
the sacrifice that people like Mr. Abraham gave; and the gentleman has
done so honorably and nobly, and I thank him for that. I encourage my
colleagues to support H.R. 609.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I think this is an amazing story
that Mr. Kelly shared before us. I had a history professor in college
who survived the Bataan Death March. He spent 3\1/2\ years in the
same--I wonder if these two men knew each other. He, indeed, too, was a
remarkable man. I can think of no better honor in Butler, Pennsylvania,
than to honor his memory by naming this medical center. Once again, I
encourage all Members to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 609.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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