[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 4, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF MARK V. DENNIS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CHARLIE CRIST

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 4, 2017

  Mr. CRIST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and service of 
fallen Navy Hospitalman, 3rd Class, Mr. Mark V. Dennis.
  Mr. Dennis was born on September 21, 1946, to Charles and Vera Dennis 
of Miamisburg, Ohio, where he grew up with his brother and two sisters. 
He went on to serve in the United States Navy in a Marine unit as a 
medical corpsman during the Vietnam War. A man of strong faith, Mr. 
Dennis also served as acting chaplain for his unit, and had dreams of 
being a missionary after completing his service.
  Sadly, those dreams would not be realized. He was killed in action 
when his helicopter crashed after taking enemy fire in South Vietnam in 
the summer of 1966. At such a young age, 19 years, Mr. Dennis made the 
ultimate sacrifice in service to his country.
  In 1970, a photograph in Newsweek magazine showed a Prisoner of War 
with an uncanny resemblance to Mark. Devastated by the loss, and 
plagued by nagging doubt, his family, led by his brother Jerry, began a 
quest for answers as to what happened to Mark.
  Last August, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency released a report 
determining through DNA testing that the remains from the deadly 
helicopter crash are those of Mr. Dennis. Thanks to the Dennis family's 
determination, and work by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, we 
now know conclusively that Mr. Dennis died while serving and protecting 
his country.
  Mr. Speaker, the Dennis family has been through a lot over the years. 
I pray that they will now have the closure they so deserve. Mr. Dennis 
will soon be laid to rest alongside his parents at the Garden Sanctuary 
Cemetery in Seminole, Florida, with full military honors.
  I am humbled to honor the life of this young man, and all of our 
servicemen and women who were taken from this Earth too soon. May he, 
and his family, now finally find peace.

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