[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 73 (Monday, May 7, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H3758-H3760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SERGEANT FIRST CLASS ALWYN CRENDALL CASHE POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4840) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 567 East Franklin Street in Oviedo, Florida, as the 
``Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4840

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

     SECTION 1. SERGEANT FIRST CLASS ALWYN CRENDALL CASHE POST 
                   OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 567 East Franklin Street in Oviedo, 
     Florida, shall be known and designated as the ``Sergeant 
     First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall 
     Cashe Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from

[[Page H3759]]

Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Krishnamoorthi) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma.


                             General Leave

  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oklahoma?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to support H.R. 4840, introduced by 
Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy. The bill names the United States Post 
Office at 567 East Franklin Street, Oviedo, Florida, after Sergeant 
First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe.
  Sergeant First Class Cashe served in the United States Army and was 
stationed in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was killed 
on November 8, 2005, as a result of injuries sustained while rescuing 
his fellow soldiers from an improvised explosive device explosion. With 
severe burns, Sergeant First Class Cashe returned repeatedly to the 
vehicle, determined to save his fellow soldiers.
  For his heroic actions, he was awarded the Silver Star. Sergeant 
First Class Cashe exemplified bravery and sacrifice, and he died 
putting his comrades before himself.
  I had the privilege to know and serve with his commander, then-
Lieutenant Colonel Gary Brito, who is now a serving general officer. I 
should also point out, Mr. Speaker, that Sergeant First Class Cashe has 
been considered and recommended for the Medal of Honor, but to date, no 
actions have been taken. It is my hope that his case will be reviewed 
and come under further scrutiny.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill to name a post 
office in honor of Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of 
H.R. 4840, to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 567 East Franklin Street in Oviedo, Florida, as the 
``Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe Post Office Building''.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman 
from Florida (Mrs. Murphy) so that she may tell us more about Sergeant 
First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe.
  Mrs. MURPHY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy once said that 
a nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the 
men it honors, the men it remembers. Consistent with that principle, my 
bill would designate a U.S. Post Office building in Oviedo, Florida, 
after Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe.
  Sergeant First Class Cashe died in 2005 as a result of wounds 
suffered while serving in Iraq. When I recount the actions this 
American soldier and son of Oviedo performed and what he endured in the 
process, it will take your breath away. The word ``hero'' is ascribed 
to many people in our society, perhaps a bit too casually, but this was 
heroism in its purest and most profound sense.
  Let me start the story at the beginning: Alwyn was born in 1970 in 
Sanford, Florida, and was raised in Oviedo, attending Oviedo High 
School. He was the youngest of nine children: five girls and four boys. 
The family didn't have much money, but they had plenty of pride. When 
Alwyn was 6, his father passed away. Alwyn's mother, Ruby Mae, worked 
long hours at demanding jobs: working on an assembly line and later as 
a custodian at Florida Tech, since renamed the University of Central 
Florida.
  One of Alwyn's sisters, Kasinal, described her brother as the baby of 
the family: rambunctious; a little spoiled by his siblings; and, of 
course, deeply loved. Alwyn enlisted in the military after high school. 
Kasinal said it had a transformational effect, turning this somewhat 
aimless boy into a resolute man, the civilian into a soldier. And not 
just any soldier but a soldier's soldier, a tough-as-nails infantryman, 
and an old-school leader in the best sense of the term.
  As Kasinal put it, Alwyn ``bled Army green'' right from the start. 
The Army gave him a second family with even more brothers and sisters, 
bound together by the American flag on their uniform and the events 
they experienced and endured together from boot camp to combat.
  On October 17, 2005, Alwyn, now Sergeant First Class Cashe, was on 
his second deployment to Iraq. That fateful day, the Bradley Fighting 
Vehicle carrying him, six other American soldiers, and the squad's 
Iraqi interpreter struck an IED. The blast instantly killed the 
interpreter and ruptured the vehicle's fuel cell. Flames engulfed the 
vehicle.
  Initially only lightly injured but covered in fuel, Sergeant First 
Class Cashe descended into the hull, extracted the driver, who was on 
fire, and extinguished the flames. At this point, multiple soldiers 
remained in the vehicle, one of whom managed to open the rear hatch. 
With no regard for his own safety, Sergeant First Class Cashe rushed to 
the back of the vehicle, reached into the hot flames, and started 
pulling out soldiers. His fuel-soaked uniform caught fire, and the 
flames spread quickly over his body.
  Despite what must have been terrible pain, he returned to the vehicle 
twice more to extract his soldiers, all while he was still on fire and 
exposed to enemy gunfire. By the time he had extracted all of his 
soldiers from the vehicle, Sergeant First Class Cashe had the most 
severe injuries. Second- and third-degree burns covered 72 percent of 
his body. Nevertheless, he refused to be evacuated until all of his 
soldiers were medevacked out before him.
  When he arrived at the U.S. military hospital at Balad Air Base in 
Iraq, he was still fully conscious. What remained of his uniform had 
melted to his skin, yet he tried to fight off the nurses, insisting 
that they treat everyone else first. Despite determined efforts to save 
his life at various hospitals abroad and in the United States, he 
eventually succumbed to his wounds on November 8, 2005, surrounded by 
members of both his biological family and his Army family.
  Scripture teaches us that there is no greater love than to lay down 
your life for your friends, and Sergeant First Class Cashe made the 
ultimate expression of love. After his passing, he received the Silver 
Star, the third highest combat award that the Army confers. Over the 
past years, there has been a painstaking effort to have Sergeant First 
Class Cashe's Silver Star upgraded to the Medal of Honor, an award no 
African American has received since 1969.
  Notably, this effort has been led by the battalion commander who 
nominated Sergeant First Class Cashe for the Silver Star. This 
individual, now a 2-star general, came to believe that Sergeant First 
Class Cashe deserves the highest award for valor that our Nation 
bestows. I strongly agree with this conclusion and have written to the 
Secretary of the Army to express my view.
  We cannot bring Sergeant First Class Cashe back or erase the pain 
felt by his sister Kasinal, his other family members, and the men and 
women in uniform who served beside him; but we can pay tribute to his 
life and legacy. We can engrave his name on a plaque and designate a 
Federal building in his honor so the American public never forgets this 
remarkable man who laid down his life for his friends in service of our 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask my colleagues to support this 
legislation.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to make the gentleman from 
Illinois aware that I have no further speakers and am prepared to 
close. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I 
strongly urge the passage of H.R. 4840, and I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4840.

[[Page H3760]]

  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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