[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 174 (Thursday, November 10, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING TECHNICAL SERGEANT VIRGIL POE, ONE OF THE GREATEST GENERATION

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                           HON. DAN CRENSHAW

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 10, 2022

  Mr. CRENSHAW. Madam Speaker, on Friday, July 1st this year, Sergeant 
Virgil Poe, age 96, passed away surrounded by family in Houston, Texas.
  Virgil was born on June 28, 1926, near Mansfield, Arkansas. He lived 
the first ten years of his life in Hoberg, Missouri. At ten years old, 
Virgil's parents, Loyd and Elsie Poe, moved to Portsmouth, Iowa where 
his father worked as a banker. He graduated from high school in Harlan, 
Iowa in 1944.
  Virgil was drafted in June 1944 and reported to the famed Fort 
Leavenworth in Kansas to serve his country in the United States Army. 
He would go on to take basic Infantry Training at Camp Wolters, Texas.
  Virgil fought for the Allies with selflessness and nobility. He 
served in the 7th U.S. Army in France. Belgium, and Germany as a 
rifleman, truck driver and heavy artilleryman until Germany's surrender 
in 1945.
  Following Germany's surrender, Virgil did not rest. Upon his return 
to America, he boarded a troop train to Seattle with other soldiers 
shipping to fight the Japanese in the Pacific Theater. While en route 
to the Pacific, Virgil and the other servicemen learned Japan had 
surrendered.
  After the war, Virgil was sent back to Ft. Hood, where he would meet 
his wife, Dorrace, at an evening service at the Church of Christ in her 
nearby hometown of Temple, Texas. His battalion eventually moved to 
Camp Polk in Louisiana, where Virgil served as the Administrative NCO 
in the newly organized Rocket FA Battalion Headquarters. He also served 
as Supply Sergeant in the same battalion.
  Virgil was honorably discharged from the service in August 1946. He 
and Dorrace married shortly thereafter in October of 1946.
  Virgil went on to Abilene Christian College, where he graduated in 
1952. Upon graduation, he worked faithfully for 42 years at 
Southwestern Bell Telephone Co./AT&T as an engineer across the Midwest, 
including in Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis.
  In 2020, the President of the Republic of France authorized the 
National French Legion of Honour Medal, the highest military medal in 
France, to Virgil Poe. 75 years after the landing at Normandy the 
French consulate in Houston awarded the medal to Mr. Poe to honor him 
for his service in France during World War II. Indeed, Mr. Poe was an 
exemplary member of the Greatest Generation.
  Virgil and Dorrace remained happily married for 72 years before her 
passing in April 2019. He is survived by his daughter, Jayne Poe 
Massey, of Jersey Village, Texas; son, former Congressman Ted Poe and 
wife, Carol; eight grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren. 
Please join us in honoring a true American hero and patriot.

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