[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15860-15861]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   CONNECTICUT VETERANS HALL OF FAME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow night in Hartford, Connecticut, 
at the State capital, there will be a solemn annual event, where 10 
veterans are inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame.
  This is a ceremony which dates back to 2005 in which 10 veterans are 
honored by the State of Connecticut. One of the 92 veterans that are on 
the rolls is President George Herbert Walker Bush who hails, of course, 
from the State of Connecticut.
  Again, it honors not only their service, where they wore the uniform 
of our Nation, but also for their work after they left the service, to 
help the over 200,000 veterans that reside in the State of Connecticut.
  For the Second Congressional District of eastern Connecticut, it is a 
particularly proud night because six of the 10 hail from the Second 
District. I would argue that this is no coincidence.
  This is the home of the largest operating military installation in 
New England with the Groton Submarine Base and, as was recently 
described by the Hartford Courant, had the highest concentration of 
Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, again, because of the great 
patriotism and sense of duty that I think is a part of the fabric of 
that great part of our State.
  I would like to briefly describe these six gentlemen and have their 
names entered into the Record. Edward Francis Atkins, known as Bud, 
from Oakdale, Connecticut, served 40 years in the Navy. A former 
submariner, he mentors students at the Naval Submarine School. Bud is a 
respected leader within the submarine force and a command master chief 
petty officer, retired, and for the last 4 years has been on the 
selection panel to identify outstanding sailors who are the best of the 
best in the submarine force.
  He is now heading up the Groton Subvets chapter which, again, helps 
the 8,000 sailors that live in that community. He will be hard at work 
at Thanksgiving, serving meals to make sure that those sailors have 
some of the comforts of home while they are serving their Nation.
  Samuel Baez of Waterford, Connecticut, served as a Navy chaplain 
during Vietnam, conducting the memorial service in Da Nang for the 
first Marine casualties of the war. Those seven names are still 
memorialized on the first panel of the Vietnam Memorial here in 
Washington. Since he retired, he has continued to counsel veterans 
around the world and serves as a counselor and parental sponsor to 
Coast Guard cadets who are attending the Coast Guard Academy in New 
London, Connecticut.
  Edmond Clark of Madison, Connecticut, served our Nation in Vietnam as 
a marine, and after earning his law degree, he has provided legal 
assistance free of charge to help veterans receive the benefits they 
receive through their service.
  It is not well-known that the VA caps legal fees at $10 for any 
veteran who challenges a disability ruling. Mr. Clark has brushed aside 
that restriction and, again, represented veterans free of charge to 
make sure that they got the benefits they deserved.
  Maurice Collin of Coventry, Connecticut, a Marine Corps Vietnam 
veteran, served as a veteran service officer in the Office of Advocacy 
and Assistance in the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs. He 
was selected to serve as acting commissioner for a period of time.
  Since his retirement from State government, he has continued to 
contribute his time to veterans. He provides volunteer driving 
assistance to disabled veterans in eastern Connecticut to their medical 
appointments and supervises the clothing donation program at the 
Newington VA hospital.
  Robert Getman of Old Lyme, Connecticut, will be inducted posthumously 
today. He served 30 years in the Coast Guard. After his retirement in 
1984, he went on to serve as the director of the Veterans Home in Rocky 
Hill, and for 10 years, he worked vigorously to rehabilitate, educate, 
and place veterans into careers.
  Finally, Gerry Wright of Bolton, Connecticut, my neighbor, served two 
tours in Vietnam in the Army and later, as a member of the Army 
National Guard, served in Operation Desert Storm. Since retiring in 
1999, Gerry has been everywhere, helping veterans all across 
Connecticut.
  He devotes his time to various veterans service organizations helping 
veterans in many ways, collecting care packages for Connecticut 
servicemen overseas, and he has faithfully attended every sendoff and 
welcome home ceremony for the Connecticut National Guard at the 
Hartford State Armory over the last few years.
  The hard work of these men, combined with their unfailing dedication 
to service, even after leaving the military, exemplifies the greatest 
attributes of the American spirit. Because of their continued service, 
the few that stand out in particular are

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well-deserving of being honored tomorrow at the Connecticut Veterans 
Hall of Fame.
  I want to thank them for their commitment to improving their 
communities and the lives of their fellow veterans. At a time of an 
all-volunteer service, it is critical that we have folks like these out 
there making sure that this Nation respects and honors and provides all 
the assistance to the 1 percent of the people who stand up to defend 
our Nation.

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