[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 21, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING SGT. THOMAS H. COREY, VIETNAM VETERAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LOIS FRANKEL

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 21, 2022

  Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor 
Sergeant Thomas H. Corey, a decorated Vietnam War Veteran and beloved 
advocate for veteran's rights. Sergeant Corey passed away at the age of 
77, on June 6, 2022, in Jupiter, Florida, due to complications from 
injuries sustained during the Vietnam War.
  Sergeant Corey served as a U.S. Army combat infantryman and squad 
leader in Vietnam. In January 1968, in Quang Tri Province, he was shot 
in his spinal cord while engaging the enemy, leaving him paralyzed and 
quadriplegic. For his service and heroism, Sergeant Corey was awarded 
the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
  After medically retiring, Sergeant Corey relocated to West Palm 
Beach, Florida in 1972 and joined the Vietnam Veterans of America 
(VVA), beginning his decades-long career as an advocate for our 
nation's veterans. In 1981, he founded VVA's Palm Beach County Chapter 
25, which was renamed in his honor in 1991.
  Sergeant Corey would go on to serve as VVA's National President and 
vowed, ``to speak up for those veterans without a voice.'' He fought 
for mandatory funding for veterans' health care and services because he 
believed that ``to deny adequate funding for quality health care and 
other services is to violate a sacred trust with the nation.''
  Sergeant Corey also traveled back to Vietnam more than a dozen times 
as a representative of the VVA's Veterans Initiative Task Force to meet 
with his former enemy, and work together in search of the remains of 
Americans and Vietnamese who lost their lives during the war. He 
simultaneously ran the Vietnam Veterans Peace Initiative where he 
spearheaded the building of a maternal health clinic in Vietnam to 
provide medical support to victims of Agent Orange attacks.
  Sergeant Corey dedicated his life to fighting for veterans and 
improving access to quality health care. His work has touched the lives 
of generations of veterans and their families. I am proud to honor him 
today and express my condolences to his family, friends and to our 
entire community for the enormous void he leaves behind. May his memory 
be a blessing.