To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 281 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, as the "First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office Building".

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank the chair and ranking member for their support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of the bill to designate the U.S. Postal Service building located at 281 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, as the ``First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office Building.'' Doing so will honor Mr. Goodall's decades of service to the community and country as a Tuskegee Airman, public information officer, and postal worker.

It's my pleasure to honor the contributions of an inspirational man who answered his country's call to service in the face of immense adversity.

Oliver Goodall and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen fought the injustice of fascism abroad while combating racial segregation at home. The Tuskegee Airmen enlisted as America's first African American military pilots at a time when segregation infused both the armed services and much of the country. The Tuskegee Airmen exhibited commendable spirit and will in serving their country with extraordinary courage and sacrifice even as their every achievement was met with criticism or obstruction.

In June 1941, the Tuskegee program officially began with the formation of the 99th Fighter Squadron at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The first class graduated in 1942, and the program would eventually graduate 994 pilots, many of whom would go on to serve with valor in the war efforts in Europe.

Goodall entered the service at Tuskegee in February 1943. In October 1944, he graduated as a multiengine pilot and was assigned to the 477th Bomber Group at Godman Field, Kentucky, in January 1945, where he attained his first pilot's rating in 6 months.

Despite an excellent service record, including a Silver Star, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 14 Bronze Stars, and 744 Air Medals by war's end, the Tuskegee Airmen faced rigid segregation on Air Force bases. White and African American officers and enlisted men were separated in almost all activities, including admittance into the officers' club.

On April 5, 1945, at Freeman Airfield in Indiana where the 447th Bomber Group was stationed, Oliver Goodall and 60 other African American officers challenged the segregation of the officers' club, brushing past the base provost marshal into the all-white officers' club. All of the officers were arrested. Most were soon released. But all of the African American officers on the base were ordered to sign an order that indicated they understood the regulation that officially barred them from the club and established a separate officers' club for African Americans. Goodall and all but eight of the African American officers on the base refused to sign the order and to enter the African American officers' club. Asked why he refused to sign the order, Goodall responded: Because it's just another form of segregation.

The officers that refused to sign the order were arrested again. They were released on April 19, 1945. By then, news of the incident and the dignity that Goodall and the other officers had displayed in entering the whites-only officers' club and refusing to sign the order had spread across the country.

The ensuing protest compelled the War Department to establish the McCloy Committee to investigate segregation in the Armed Forces. The McCloy Committee played a critical role in the abolishment of segregation in the military.

World War II ended in September 1945, and after the conclusion of the war, Oliver Goodall moved to southern California and took a job with the U.S. Postal Service where he worked until he retired. He was an active member of the community, serving as fund-raising chairman of the Tuskegee Airmen Foundation Scholarship Fund, which assists financially disadvantaged and deserving students interested in the fields of aviation, aerospace and science to achieve academic success. In 1961, he bought a home in Altadena, where he lived until he passed away in October of 2010.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1975 to designate the post office as the ``First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office Building.'' This legislation is a small but fitting way to honor the legacy of Oliver Goodall and of the other Tuskegee Airmen who bravely stood by

their country at a time when few would stand by them.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1975) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 281 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, as the ``First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office Building''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1975, introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff), would designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 281 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, as the ``First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office Building.'' The bill was introduced on May 24 and was reported out of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on June 22.

Oliver Goodall was born May 28, 1922. After the United States entered World War II, he joined the United States Army Air Corps at Tuskegee, Alabama, in February 1943. By 1944, he had earned the right to fly as a multiengine pilot and was assigned to the 477th Bomber Group based at Godman Field, Kentucky.

In 1945, First Lieutenant Goodall was among a group of African American officers that were arrested for trying to peacefully integrate an all-white officers' club. This event later came to be known as the Freeman Field Mutiny. This act of courage was an essential step in the movement towards the full integration of the U.S. Armed Forces, which took place in June 1949.

Mr. Goodall moved to Los Angeles after World War II, where he began his career as a postal service employee. After decades of service to both his country and his community, Mr. Goodall was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. Sadly, in November of last year, Mr. Goodall passed away at 88 years old.

Mr. Speaker, First Lieutenant Goodall is a very worthy designee of this postal facility naming, and I urge all Members to join me in support of this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, this is a worthy man to be able to honor-- a life that served many people and a life that stood up and made a real difference, so I urge the Members to support the passage of H.R. 1975.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as he may consume to the author of this measure, Representative Adam Schiff from California.

I want to thank the gentleman from California for his introduction of this very thoughtful measure. I can't help but recall the fact that I was given a Tuskegee Airmen jacket by the DODO Club, the DODO Chapter in Chicago. I wear it whenever I get a chance in honor of Lieutenant Goodall and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen.

I urge the passage of this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 679, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.