[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 151 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             COMMEMORATING STAFF SERGEANT HENRY GERALD GISH

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ANDY BARR

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 16, 2025

  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the memory of a very special 
patriot, Henry Gerald Gish. A tragic casualty of the Vietnam War, U.S. 
Air Force Staff Sergeant Jerry Gish's remains were identified by the 
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on June 23, 2025.
  SSgt. Jerry Gish was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania on December 18, 
1942, and grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Following high school 
graduation, SSgt. Gish entered the U.S. Air Force in 1961. He served 
with Detachment 1, 1043rd Radar Evaluation Squadron. In 1968, SSgt. 
Gish and 18 other men were assigned to Lima Site 85, a tactical air 
navigation radar site on a remote 5,600-foot mountain peak called Phou 
Pha Thi in Houaphan Province in Laos. In the early morning of March 11, 
1968, North Vietnamese commandos attacked the site with grenades and 
mortars. The Americans sought safety on a narrow ledge of the steep 
mountain. After a few hours, U.S. helicopters were able to rescue eight 
of the men under the protective cover of A-1 Skyraider aircraft. SSgt. 
Gish and ten other Americans were killed in action, and their bodies 
were unable to be recovered.
  From 1994 to 2009, joint teams led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting 
Command conducted multiple recovery operations, pursuing witness leads 
and recovering evidence and remains. In 2023, Defense POW/MIA 
Accounting Agency personnel in Hawaii and members from partner 
organizations discovered unexploded ordinance, incident-related 
materials, and possible remains, leading to the identification of an 
American service member. In 2025, two more excavations were conducted 
at the site and human remains were recovered. Modern forensic 
techniques were used to identify SSgt. Gish. He is survived by his wife 
Doris Eden Gish, daughter Terrie Gish Bayless, and sister Janice Kautz 
as well as several other family members.
  SSgt. Gish is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the 
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. His name, and 
the names of his fallen comrades, are inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial 
Wall inWashington, D.C. After 57 years, the remains of this courageous 
patriot are being returned home for final rest with full military 
honors at the Berea Cemetery in Kentucky. I am grateful to the DPAA 
personnel who worked diligently to recover and identify his remains. I 
am also grateful to SSgt. Jerry Gish, who gave the ultimate sacrifice 
when our Nation called. May he never be forgotten and may he rest in 
eternal peace.

                          ____________________