[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9482-9483]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING FALLEN SAILORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hill). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, firstly, I could not take this microphone on 
this occasion and not remember Congressman Scalise, his injuries, and 
wish him and his family well, and the other victims of the cowardly and 
horrific assault on our colleagues and on our government last week in 
Virginia, but I came here specifically to honor seven Americans who 
died on the USS Fitzgerald.
  Seven United States naval soldiers died when the Fitzgerald collided 
with a Japanese freighter. And there was a story this morning in The 
New York Times, another on the Daily Beast, and I am sure there are 
others, that caught my attention.
  The New York Times story showed the divergent backgrounds of these 
seven sailors. They are all Americans, but one has roots in Okinawa, 
another's roots were in the Philippines, another Vietnam, another 
Guatemala, then there was an Ohioan and a Virginian and a sailor named 
Martin from Maryland.
  They are representative of our United States Navy, from different 
backgrounds, given an opportunity to serve our country, some because 
they are helping their families, some to gain citizenship, but all to 
serve our Nation, and all seven of these gentlemen lost their lives.
  I had the honor of going on a naval sub about 10 days ago, the 
Providence, and I saw the camaraderie on that ship. There were no 
Caucasian sailors or African-American sailors or Asian-American or 
Latin-American; there weren't gay or straight sailors. They were United 
States sailors, United States Navy personnel. And they come together in 
a camaraderie to serve our country and to serve each other as shipmates 
in a way that is gratifying to witness and is special for our Nation.
  Now, I want to mention who these sailors were, because they need to 
be memorialized here. Xavier Martin was from Maryland; Shingo Douglass 
was from Okinawa and San Diego, California; Dakota Rigsby, Palmyra, 
Virginia; Carlos Sibayan from Chula Vista, California, but the 
Philippines was the spot of origin, and his grandfather, who is a 
Filipino, also served in our United States Navy; Ngoc Truong Huynh, 
Vietnam, Oakville, Connecticut; Noe Hernandez was from Texas by way of 
Guatemala; and finally, Gary Rehm, Jr., from Ohio.

[[Page 9483]]

  The Daily Beast told me something about Gary Rehm, Jr., that I 
wouldn't have garnered from The New York Times story that was so 
wonderful as it described the backgrounds and really the rainbow that 
these seven men made of America.
  Gary Rehm was due to finish his service in 3 months, and he 
considered everybody on that ship, all the sailors, his kids. He had no 
children of his own, but the sailors were his kids. He rescued up to 20 
sailors to see to it after the crash that they survived and then went 
to try to rescue six others, and it is at that point that Gary Rehm 
lost his life. He lost his life serving his shipmates, as he called 
them, his kids, his fellow sailors.
  They were shipmates and sailors and United States naval personnel. 
They weren't Filipinos or Vietnamese or any other description. Gary 
Rehm, Jr., was a hero trying to save others. The other six were heroes, 
too, serving our country, and they lost their lives.
  It was a great experience to be on the Providence, and it is a great 
honor to represent Millington Naval Air Base, which serves our country 
for personnel and recruitment purposes.
  I am honored to be in this Congress, but more honored to represent 
people in the United States Naval Academy. I thank those seven for 
their valiant efforts and for giving their lives in service to their 
country.

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