[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18444-18445]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE ROBERT E. MITCHELL CENTER FOR PRISONER OF WAR STUDIES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF MILLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 14, 2004

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor for me to 
rise today in recognition of the Robert E. Mitchell Center for Prisoner 
of War Studies.
  The original Center for Prisoner of War Studies was established in 
1972 under a five-year charter to study long-term effects of captivity 
on repatriated Vietnam prisoners-of-war. After the initial five years, 
the Air Force and Army programs were discontinued. Captain Robert 
Mitchell continued to successfully direct the Navy-Marine program, so 
successfully in fact that Air Force Vietnam POWs rejoined the program 
in 1993 and Army POWs rejoined in 1997.
  Located in my district in Northwest Florida, the Mitchell Center is 
the only program in existence that works with three branches of the 
armed services in this field, and currently sees over half of today's 
surviving Vietnam POWs.

[[Page 18445]]

Findings from the Center's research have been used worldwide in medical 
and psychological fields, paving the way for further insight into POW 
studies. The Center now works with repatriated POWs from World War II 
all the way through Desert Storm.
  Recognizing the importance of the Mitchell Center's findings, 
Secretary of the Navy Gordon England signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding this year with the Robert E. Mitchell Foundation allowing 
it to raise money for the sole purpose of supporting the Mitchell 
Center's success.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States Congress, I would like to 
commend the Mitchell Center for its groundbreaking work in supporting 
our nation's prisoners of war as we bring them home.

                          ____________________