[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7508-7509]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING CLARISSA ``T.C.'' FREEMAN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to a 
distinguished Kentuckian who was a passionate advocate for and 
supporter of our Nation's military, especially the troops stationed at 
Kentucky's Fort Campbell and in the neighboring community of 
Hopkinsville, KY. Clarissa ``T.C.'' Freeman, a woman so devoted to our 
men and women in uniform that one chapter of the Association of the 
United States Army, AUSA, named an award after her, sadly passed away 
on May 19. She was 83 years old.
  Freeman understood the importance of the men and women stationed at 
Fort Campbell and worked diligently to ensure that these servicemembers 
and her community got the recognition they deserved. Freeman was one of 
Kentucky's civilian aides to the Secretary of the Army since 2008, 
holding a ceremonial rank equal to a lieutenant general. However, her 
contributions to our servicemembers began long before that.
  She first became involved as an AUSA volunteer as a young Army wife 
in Fort Hood, TX, welcoming her husband back home from his first tour 
of duty in Vietnam. Freeman felt her husband and others returning from 
Vietnam did not get the recognition and appreciation they deserved. 
T.C. was right about this, as she was about so many other important 
issues concerning our Nation's servicemembers.
  She decided to do something about it personally. She took care of 
wounded soldiers. She coordinated welcome-home events. She advocated on 
behalf of Army families on housing and quality-of-life issues that 
affected them. The Freemans moved to Hopkinsville and took up the cause 
of soldiers at Fort Campbell after T.C.'s husband, Army COL Bobby 
Freeman, was named garrison commander at Fort Campbell.
  T.C. Freeman's support for the 101st Airborne Division, headquartered 
at Fort Campbell, was crucial throughout the years, especially in 1985 
when 248 soldiers died in an air crash in Newfoundland while returning 
from a peacekeeping mission.
  In 2009, Freeman was among the first nine honored as a ``champion'' 
of Fort Campbell and saw her portrait installed in the division's 
headquarters building. She served as chapter president and board member 
of the Tennessee-Kentucky chapter of AUSA. She was also an honorary 
member of the 327th Infantry Regiment and the 160th Special Operations 
Aviation regiments and a distinguished member of the 502nd and 187th 
Infantry regiments.
  T.C. and her husband, Bobby, raised two sons who served in the 
Persian Gulf and a daughter who was an Army wife. Elaine and I want to 
send our condolences to the Freeman family and to the many who knew and 
loved T.C. I am grateful for the long friendship I had with her, and I 
know she will be deeply missed--especially by the brave servicemembers 
she worked so hard to support and their families.
  An area publication, the Kentucky New Era, recently published an 
article detailing T.C. Freeman's legacy. I ask unanimous consent that 
the article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Kentucky New Era, May 20, 2016]

          T.C. Freeman, Tireless Fort Campbell Advocate, Dies

                          (By Andrew Oppmann)

       Clarissa ``T.C.'' Freeman, known and honored by generals 
     and privates alike as Fort Campbell's Mom for her devoted 
     service and advocacy of the U.S. Army, died at 7 a.m. 
     Thursday at Jennie Stuart Medical Center after a long 
     illness. She was 83.
       One of Kentucky's civilian aides to the secretary of the 
     Army since 2008, Freeman battled pulmonary fibrosis for more 
     than five

[[Page 7509]]

     years. However, despite the debilitating effects of the 
     disease, her service to Fort Campbell rarely slowed.
       Her husband, retired Army Col. Bobby Freeman, was a former 
     garrison commander at Fort Campbell.
       Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at First United 
     Methodist Church, Hopkinsville, and burial will be at 1 p.m. 
     Monday at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery-West. Visitation will be 
     from 4 until 8 p.m. Saturday at Hughart, Beard and Giles 
     Funeral Home, Hopkinsville, and from 2 p.m. until the funeral 
     hour at the church.
       As a civilian aide to the Army secretary, Freeman held the 
     ceremonial rank equal to a lieutenant general. She used her 
     status as a platform to call attention to the service and 
     sacrifice of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air 
     Assault).
       Hopkinsville Mayor Carter Hendricks knew Freeman as a 
     ``tireless, tenacious and caring advocate'' for Fort 
     Campbell.
       At welcome-home ceremonies, Freeman often was seen handing 
     off her cell phone to a young soldier who didn't have family 
     present but wanted to call home.
       Freeman was on a Chamber of Commerce committee that hired 
     Hendricks to be the military affairs director in 2004. She 
     became a dear friend and supporter, he said.
       No task was too small for Freeman, and she always followed 
     through on her promises, the mayor said.
       U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, ``T.C. understood 
     the importance of the men and women stationed at the Kentucky 
     (post) and worked diligently to ensure that these service 
     members and her community got the recognition they 
     deserved.''
       At a 2013 ceremony honoring Freeman, retired Gen. Richard 
     A. Cody, former post and division commander, said, ``T.C. was 
     an Army wife and Army mom and a model for everyone here. She 
     made a difference in the life of me and my family.''
       In 2009, Freeman and her husband were among the first nine 
     honored as Champions of Fort Campbell, and their portraits 
     were installed on a wall inside the division's headquarters 
     building.
       She was a life member of the Association of the United 
     States Army, serving as a regional president, as well as 
     chapter president and board member of the Tennessee-Kentucky 
     chapter. The chapter in 2013 named a brigade-level award for 
     membership participation in her honor.
       Freeman worked as an aide to former U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning 
     and current U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield and was a member of the 
     Kentucky Military Affairs Commission.
       She was an honorary member of the 327th Infantry Regiment 
     and the 160th Special Operations Aviation regiments a 
     distinguished member of the 502nd and 187th Infantry 
     regiments.
       As the wife of a decorated Vietnam aviator, and mother to 
     two sons who served in the Persian Gulf and a daughter who 
     was an Army wife, Freeman told an Army interviewer in 2009 
     that she knew what other spouses were going through when 
     their husbands and wives were deployed.
       ``The first Army family I took care of was mine,'' she 
     said.
       Freeman first became involved as an AUSA volunteer at Fort 
     Hood, Texas, as a young Army wife.
       She told an Army journalist that when her husband returned 
     from his first tour of duty in Vietnam, she was disappointed 
     and saddened by the reception he received. She vowed to do 
     something about it.
       ``They didn't understand how important our Army was,'' she 
     said in a 2009 article. ``I always feel the need to give 
     something back to our soldiers and to their families.''
       And give back she did. She was involved in taking care of 
     wounded soldiers. She planned welcome-home events. She 
     tackled granular issues that troubled Army families, such as 
     ID card and housing problems.
       She hosted luncheons, consoled families in their grief and, 
     as a champion of Fort Campbell, was a fierce advocate for 
     funding of the post that straddles the Kentucky and Tennessee 
     borders.
       Cody, quoted by The Eagle Post in a 2013 article on the 
     AUSA award named in her honor, said Freeman was diligent to 
     greet soldiers as they returned or departed for duty 
     overseas.
       She would look around for a soldier who had no one waiting 
     for him or her and would give him or her a hug and a thank 
     you.
       ``When they (the soldier's family) can't, I stand in for 
     them,'' she said.
       Maj. Gen. Jim Myles, at a 2009 ceremony covered by Army 
     journalists, called Freeman ``a national treasure and a 
     hero.''
       When she was a VIP or special guest at an event, Myles said 
     she would always divert the spotlight to the soldiers.
       ``I've watched CASAs like T.C. make a difference in 
     soldiers' lives in ways green-suiters couldn't do,'' he said.
       Cody, in the 2013 article, recalled how Freeman ``wrapped 
     her arms around this great division'' after 248 soldiers from 
     the 101st died in air crash at Gander, Newfoundland, while 
     returning from a peacekeeping mission shortly before 
     Christmas in 1985.
       The Freemans moved to Hopkinsville when Col. Freeman was 
     named garrison commander at Fort Campbell. They remained 
     there after he retired from the Army.
       Freeman's passion for the soldiers of Fort Campbell never 
     ceased, even as her illness limited her mobility in recent 
     months. She was active on social media and often sent out 
     messages of support to the division while on bed rest.
       ``There is a lot that can be done to help our soldiers,'' 
     she told the Army journalist in 2009. ``There are no 
     boundaries to what goodness one can contribute for the 
     benefit of the soldiers.''

                          ____________________