[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5073]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING ROBERT C. PENNY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 27, 2014

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Robert 
C. Penny upon his retirement as the Veterans Service Officer for Lake 
County, California, after nearly twenty years working in the Lake 
County Veterans Service Office. I thank Mr. Penny for his years of 
dedicated service to Lake County's veterans as well as their dependents 
and survivors. His commitment to advocating on behalf of our nation's 
veterans is both admirable and deserving of recognition.
  A veteran himself, Mr. Penny served in the U.S. Navy between July, 
1966, and January, 1969, before being disability retired due to 
injuries he sustained in combat while serving on a River Patrol Boat in 
Vietnam. For his service, Mr. Penny was awarded the National Defense 
Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with Two Bronze Stars, the 
Presidential Unit Commendation Ribbon, the Republic of Vietnam 
Meritorious Unit Citation (Gallantry Cross Medal Color with Palm), the 
Combat Action Ribbon as well as a Purple Heart.
  Mr. Penny's career with the Lake County Veterans Service Office began 
in September of 1994, when he was brought in as an office assistant. 
While working in the office, Mr. Penny pursued a Bachelor's Degree in 
Business Administration from Dominican University, which he received in 
1997. It was then that Mr. Penny began to work full time in the Lake 
County Veterans Service Office, first as a Veterans Service 
Representative, and later as a Veterans Service Representative II, 
Assistant California Veterans Service Officer for Lake County and 
finally, as the Veterans Service Officer. His colleagues remember him 
as being not only extremely efficient, professional, and hard-working, 
but also as being unfailingly friendly and cheerful.
  Outside of his official duties, Mr. Penny never ceased to serve the 
veteran community. He is the co-host of a bi-monthly radio show that 
aims to inform veterans about the benefits they are eligible to receive 
and to discuss veterans' issues. Mr. Penny also serves as the elected 
Commander for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2015 and the Educational 
Committee Chair for the California Association of County Veterans 
Service Officers. A tireless public servant, Robert Penny has 
volunteered extensively with his community's youth, through both the 
Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts.
  Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate at this time that we honor and thank 
Mr. Penny for his invaluable service to Lake County's veterans, their 
dependents, and survivors. Robert Penny's unyielding dedication to 
advocating on behalf of our veterans is greatly appreciated by the 
entire Lake County community and we wish him a most enjoyable 
retirement.

                          ____________________