To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, as the Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post Office Building.

I thank the gentlelady from New York for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, it was the Vietnam war. It was March 1967--45 years ago.

Army First Sergeant David McNerney's company was sent to recover a missing American Army reconnaissance team. As his company approached that reconnaissance team, they walked into heavy fire from the Vietnamese Army. McNerney was soon wounded by a grenade, and the commander was killed, but Sergeant McNerney took control of the situation.

Injury could not deter this patriot.

He climbed a tree, exposing his position to heavy enemy fire, and called in close artillery fire. After that occurred, he personally destroyed an enemy machine gun. And always thinking of others, he personally pulled wounded soldiers to safety and secured a landing zone for medical helicopters that were approaching.

He had the chance to evacuate that evening, but he refused and remained with his troops overnight on the battlefield until a new commander arrived the next day. His actions stopped the enemy advance and saved many of his own men's lives. These actions of heroism earned David McNerney the Congressional Medal of Honor presented to him by Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1968.

Mr. Speaker, this is a fairly recent photograph of First Sergeant David McNerney. He kind of looks like Clint Eastwood to me and he's just as tough, because I knew him for a good number of years until he died in 2010.

This was not where Sergeant McNerney's service to America would end on that battlefield in Vietnam. He started really serving the United States when he joined the United States Navy right out of St. Thomas High School in Houston, Texas. He did two tours of duty in the Korean War.

After leaving the Navy in 1953, he joined the United States Army, and was one of the first 500 so-called ``advisers'' sent to Vietnam by President Kennedy in 1962. The acts that earned McNerney the Medal of Honor came on his third tour of duty in Vietnam. After he received the Congressional Medal of Honor, First Sergeant David McNerney from Crosby, Texas, volunteered for another tour of duty in Vietnam.

Mr. Speaker, those were amazing men that served America in the Vietnam War. First Sergeant McNerney served with thousands of other Vietnam troops and generally were not appreciated by America when they returned back home after doing what their country asked them to do.

After he retired from the Army in 1969, he worked in the Customs Service at the Port of Houston until 1995. He served his country for 46 years in the United States Navy, United States Army, and the Customs Service.

After all of his work and service, he worked in the community in Crosby. He led by example, with his involvement in the Crosby High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and the Crosby American Legion Post 658.

First Sergeant McNerney died in Texas on October 10, 2010, at the age of 79, still a patriot. He called his hometown Crosby, and they called him their hero. Crosby American Legion Post 658 is named for him.

Mr. Speaker, Crosby, Texas, like many of the towns mentioned in the last few resolutions and bills, is a small town in America. It's an old-fashioned, flag-waving patriotic town that honors our returning veterans from Iraq and from Afghanistan.

First Sergeant McNerney's bravery and commitment to our country and community is well worth the acknowledgement by naming a post office after him, at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, the Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post Office.

Mr. Speaker, men like Army First Sergeant David McNerney are the reason our country has always had the best military in history.

And that's just the way it is.

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

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted no on H.R. 2362, the Indian Tribal Trade and Investment Demonstration Project Act of 2011 (Rep. Cole--Natural Resources).

Had I been present, I would have voted no on S. 2039, a bill to allow a State or local government to construct levees on certain properties otherwise designated as open space lands (Sen. Hoeven--Transportation and Infrastructure).

Had I been present I would have voted yes on H.R. 3477, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, as the Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post Office Building (Rep. Poe--Oversight and Government Reform).

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3477) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, as the Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post Office Building.

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 such time as he may consume to the sponsor of this legislation, my distinguished colleague from Texas (Mr. Poe).

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 3477, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to again join my friend and colleague from Texas in honoring this brave man. Serving as many tours of duty in Vietnam was a rare event in that era than the tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was particularly noteworthy.

I'm pleased to urge my colleagues to join with Judge Poe and our other colleagues in support of H.R. 3477 in order to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 133 Hare Road in Crosby, Texas, as the Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post Office Building, and I urge its adoption.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee be discharged from the following postal naming bills en bloc and that the Senate proceed to their consideration en bloc: H.R. 3477, H.R. 3870, H.R. 3912, H.R. 5738, H.R. 5837, H.R. 5954, S. 3630, and S. 3662.

I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time and passed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate, and that any related statements be printed in the Record.