Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 208) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 500 West Main Street, Suite 102 in Tupelo,…
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 208) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 500 West Main Street, Suite 102 in Tupelo, Mississippi, as the ``Colonel Carlyle `Smitty' Harris Post Office''.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material on this measure.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of H.R. 208, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 500 West Main Street, Suite 102 in Tupelo, Mississippi, as the Colonel Carlyle ``Smitty'' Harris Post Office.
Smitty Harris entered the Air Force on January 2, 1951, and served through the rank of sergeant before being commissioned. He retired from the Air Force in 1979 as a colonel.
In his career, he flew fighter aircraft and was an instructor and operations officer and a faculty member at the Air War College.
On April 4, 1965, just a week before his 36th birthday, he was on a combat mission over North Vietnam to bomb the Thanh Hoa Bridge.
Smitty was successful in destroying the bridge, but his F-105 fighter plane was hit and Smitty was forced to bail out over North Vietnam. He was captured immediately and spent the next 8 years as a prisoner of war in various prisons, where he was confined, mistreated, and tortured.
He is credited with introducing the tap code to POWs so that they could communicate surreptitiously between their cell walls.
During his distinguished Air Force career, Smitty earned two Silver Medals, three Legion of Merits, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars for valor, two Purple Hearts, and two Air Medals as well.
Smitty retired from the Air Force in August of 1979, and entered directly into the University of Mississippi School of Law, joining the Mississippi bar in December of 1981. His post-Air Force employment included banking law and marketing. In October of 2012, Colonel Harris was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Air Force Association.
Tupelo, Mississippi, is the home to Smitty and to Louise, their two daughters, and a son who was born in Okinawa shortly after Smitty was shot down. Their spouses, as well as others in their family, reside in Tupelo.
Madam Speaker, we are urging today an extra honor for Smitty Harris, a true American, by naming this postal facility after him.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for his remarks, and I thank him for his service, as well. The distinguished gentleman also is a Major General of the Army National Guard Element, Joint Force in Mississippi. I don't take that lightly. I appreciate all he has done, and I appreciate him calling the name of Sam Johnson, who I served with previously in this body.
Madam Speaker, I went to the Hanoi Hilton as a tourist, and stood there in pain looking at what he and Senator McCain, and so many others went through in that facility. I mean, it just brings you back to Earth. And sometimes we take lightly the service. Sometimes, we take lightly the fact that some of our servicemen and women were captured. And sometimes, we take lightly the fact that war can happen at any time. And when it does happen, we hope that it will continue to always bring out the best in all of us.
Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to stand here and to give these remarks from our side of the aisle about Smitty. I talk about him as if I know him, but when I read about him, I feel like I do know him.
My thanks to the gentleman from Mississippi and the gentlewoman from South Carolina for leading this discussion on the other side.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
