To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1103 USPS Building 1103 in Camp Pendleton, California, as the "Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor Post Office".

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5468) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1103 USPS Building 1103 in Camp Pendleton, California, as the

``Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor Post Office''.

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 materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, of the several postal namings that we are voting on today, almost all of them are honoring members of the military and, disproportionately, members who have given their lives in service to their country, and it is fitting that we should do that. However, H.R. 5468 seeks something very different.

Currently called the ``Mainside'' Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Post Office, it is not named for anyone. Camp Pendleton has produced more Medal of Honor recipients--most of them posthumously--through World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the various gulf wars. Even as we speak today, marines are engaged now in Iraq again, having completed their missions in Afghanistan, and, undoubtedly, the valor they show will someday result in additional Medal of Honor recipients.

It is impossible to name the post office at Camp Pendleton after one marine, no matter how great, or after a few marines, even if they died together in battle--therefore, the unusual naming here at Camp Pendleton, a base that opened in 1942 and that, today, is the largest base of marines anywhere in the world. Over 42,000 marines and corpsmen call Camp Pendleton their home when they are not away from home.

I am humbled and honored to be able to represent Camp Pendleton for my entire nearly 14 years of service in the Congress. As a former Army officer, I have learned a great deal about marines. I have learned even more about their valor. Only in a place like Camp Pendleton would you find that the base band is named after a band leader who earned a Medal of Honor during the Korean conflict as he, in fact, laid covering fire for his fellow marines from a burning tank.

Therefore, today, we are considering--and I am confident we will name--this post office after all of those who earned America's highest honor. I envision that the post office will bear the names and, in a book, the recitation of how they each earned America's highest honor. It has been inspiring to represent them. Those Medal of Honor recipients, I must mention, will include Navy corpsmen, and they will include officers and enlisted men. They will include all of those battles from World War II to tomorrow and the days beyond.

As I ask for this post office to be named, one that I have had the honor of authoring, I might note, for all of those who wonder why we name post offices, I believe, if they come to Camp Pendleton, they will find out why this post office bears the name of a medal and not any one soldier, sailor, marine, or airman.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I have but two things to say. First of all, I want to thank the California delegation for their unique, bipartisan, unanimous support for this bill.

Lastly, whether it is that bandleader who was a bandleader first, but would have said, ``I am an infantryman first,'' who served in World War II and died there in Korea, or it is the marines and corpsmen who have given their lives, their blood, their tears, their sweat, whether they were awarded the Medal of Honor, lesser medals, or were not fully recognized for their dedication, all of them, I now know, will have their daily activities, passing the post office or dropping a letter, they will have an opportunity to in fact realize that Congress is grateful for their contributions with the naming of this post office.

I urge support for the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First of all, I want to thank the gentleman from California. There is nothing I can add, really, to the eloquence of his remarks, and it is fitting that he made them as the person in this body who is representing the men and women of Camp Pendleton.

I have been there, but I don't serve it. My brother served in the Navy, and I visited him many years ago when he was at Camp Pendleton, and I remember then, as a very young person, being awed by just the incredible display of patriotism that was embodied in that.

The other thing, as I listened to you, Mr. Chairman, what I thought was so good about this is that the whole ethic of the military is that you are in it for everybody else. As for the story about the Medal of Honor winner who was in the band but, before he was in the band, was on a burning tank and provided covering fire at great peril to himself, that is the ethic of the military that, I think, all of us here so admire.

So having a postal naming which doesn't specifically identify one person but identifies all of the recipients at the highest award that we can give to a military leader is a tremendous idea. In fact, I look forward to my next visit to Camp Pendleton, where, I think, like many Americans who will go visit, I will read this roster and will just stand in awe of the bravery that has been demonstrated by these people throughout our history.

So I really am glad that our remarks are recorded because this statement that the chairman gave, I think, is going to be very good reading for all of us. I do join, of course, in supporting this naming. I think it is particularly suitable.

Mr. Speaker, 230 years of Camp Pendleton's existence, think about it. It is just an amazing facility, but more importantly, it has had hundreds of thousands of wonderful Americans who have learned about how to be a patriot, who have gone from there to face very difficult challenges when we needed their bravery to defend our country.

So I join the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) in urging our colleagues to support this naming--it is an especially glorious one-- honoring all men and women of the military.

I yield back the balance of my time.