Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent MSG. (Ret.) Carl Wayne Nichols for his distinguished service in the U.S. Army.

Hailing from Butler, Tennessee, MSG. Nichols began his service in 1970, during which he toured Vietnam as a member of the 173rd Airborne.

MSG. Nichols continued his service as a member of Operation Desert Storm, and later in Indianapolis, Indiana. Join me in thanking him for his service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent Captain Theodore Chester Kalagian of Russellville, Tennessee for his service to our country. Mr. Kalagian was drafted on Friday, May 13, 1966, and graduated from Officer Candidate School as a 2nd Lieutenant.

After his commission, he was assigned to Ft. Lewis, Washington Training Center as the Motor Officer for 2 years. He was then assigned to the 330th General Support Company of the 765th Transportation Battalion in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, he was awarded a Bronze Star and an Army Commendation Medal.

He returned to the U.S. and was assigned to Ft. Stewart, GA, as well as Frankfurt, Germany and Ft. Ben Harrison, IN, and was released from active duty on September 13, 1973.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent Specialist Keith Sevier Jones, Sr. of Johnson City, Tennessee for his distinguished service as a partner of The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration.

Drafted in the summer of 1966, SPC. Jones reported to basic training in Ft. Riley with the 9th Infantry Division.

Following his training, he deployed to Vietnam as a combat medic where he earned the Combat Medic Badge.

He continued his tour of Vietnam in the Mekong Delta, prior to deploying to Ft. Campbell, where he concluded his service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent, Naval Officer Stephen Dickmann of Greeneville, Tennessee for his distinguished service during the Vietnam War, from May 1965 to August 1967.

Ensign Dickmann served as Supply and Disbursing Officer and General Quarters Cryptography Officer aboard USS Richard B. Anderson, named after Medal of Honor recipient USMC PFC Richard B. Anderson. Anderson was deployed in the area of the Mekong Delta and the waters off the coast of Vietnam, the South China Sea, the Gulf of Siam, and the Gulf of Tonkin. Anderson engaged in search and rescue and surveillance operations and shore bombardment in support of ground troops.

Ensign Dickmann's Supply Department was responsible for maintaining the inventory of repair parts, as well as paying and feeding the crew, the ship's laundry, the ship's store, and the ship's barber shop until he was medically discharged. It was subsequently determined he had been exposed to Agent Orange.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent Colonel Roger H. Dougherty of Kingsport, Tennessee for his service in the United States Marine Corps from August 1966 to July 1999. In 1966 he entered the Corps through the Platoon Leaders Class program while attending Olivet College in Michigan. Three years later, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant; after basic training and Army Flight School he joined a USMC CH-46 flight crew where he flew with HMM-164 in Vietnam until October of 1972.

The composite squadron was the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) of the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit; during his service, his unit provided assault support for combat operations for the South Vietnamese Marines following the Easter Offensive against the invading North Vietnamese Army in and around Quang Tri. He was a part of the recapture of the Citadel in Quang Tri where all aircraft received a wall of small arms fire. For his insertion into and out of a hot landing zone he was awarded an Air Medal (AM) for individual action and two Strike-Flight Air Medals.

Following his combat tour in Vietnam he remained on active duty and became the Commanding Officer (CO) of his combat squadron from 1984 through 1986. In addition to his Vietnam awards and for his extreme bravery in the air, he earned two Legion of Merit medals, Meritorious Service medal, Defense Meritorious Service medal, and various other unit and deployment medals.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent SP5. (U.S. Army) Mark L. French of Seymour, Tennessee along with over 100 veterans and families from Sevier, Tennessee for their military service.

Stationed at Ford Ord, CA, SP5. French's was charged with leading his Generator Section and setting up a preventative maintenance program with help from a Civil Service employee to train fellow enlistees on servicing generators.

He furthered his expertise to assist our country's readiness by studying at a specialized school, where he was taught how to test for nerve gas, blood agents and Agent Orange in combat regions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent SPC. Larry G. Heatherly for his distinguished service to the U.S. Army.

Entering service in 1969, Tennessee Native SPC. Larry Heatherly attended Signal School in Ft. Gordon, GA for teletype operator training.

SPC. Heatherly served at Long Binh Post in South Vietnam through the fall of 1970, earning the Army Commendation Medal and Good Conduct Medal. Join me in recognizing his sacrifice and service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent Sgt. (Ret.) John Wayne Jeffries of Mountain City, Tennessee for his distinguished service to the U.S. Marine Corps.

A member of Alpha Co 1st BLT 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Sgt. Jeffries arrived in Vietnam in the fall of 1967 to fight on the front lines of the conflict in the search and destroy battalion. His tour of duty took him throughout Vietnam, from Con Thien to Khe Sanh, and many fire bases in between. To conclude his deployment in 1968, his battalion was sent into the DMZ to destroy an NVA battalion consisting of 300, which was actually an NVA division of 2,000.

Sgt. Jeffries' battalion fought for many days and nights, with little food and even less sleep. Join me in thanking Sgt. Jeffries and the men he fought with for their service and may their sacrifice to our Nation not be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent Master Sergeant Robert Wayne Hensley of Gray, Tennessee. MSgt. Hensley proudly served in the Air Force from 1966 to 1988.

After attending basic training at Amarillo Air Force Base in 1967, he was deployed to Danang Air Base, South Vietnam, where he assisted in providing security during the Tet Offensive. In 1968, he was moved to Misawa Air Base in Japan, and traveled all over the world moving from Air base to Air base.

His last duty station was Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands, where he retired in 1988. After returning home, he connected with the American Legion and has held multiple high-ranking positions in his 24 years of service. Currently, he serves in the American Legion as the National Executive Committee Member of Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent Sergeant Joseph (Joe) S. Herron, who started his journey with the United States Army in 1964. After high school, he decided to pursue the life of a Paratrooper.

After finishing basic training and his Airborne Jump school, he joined the 82nd Airborne Division and was stationed at Fort Bragg. Shortly afterwards, he deployed to the Dominican Republic after the assassination of the country's president.

In 1966, Herron was redeployed to Vietnam where he joined the 101st Airborne Division, also known as the ``Screaming Eagles''. He jumped a total of 13 times and earned the rank of Sergeant before his tour ended in 1967. During his service in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery while in a combat zone.

After returning home, he worked with CSX Railroad for 35 years as the Intermodal Operations Manager. He also had a strong interest in politics and in 2002, Mr. Herron was elected to the Sullivan County Commission until his retirement in 2020.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Lieutenant Commander (Ret.) Ernest E. Wilson of Johnson City, Tennessee for his 27 years of honorable and meritorious service to the United States of America while serving in the U.S. Navy.

Lieutenant Commander Wilson entered the Navy as an Airman Recruit. Through his unparalleled dedication, consummate professionalism, and tenacious determination, he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

He selflessly served with numerous attack squadrons and made several extended deployments onboard aircraft carriers. Each tour of duty exemplified our Navy's confidence in his capacity to excel in positions of continually increasing authority and responsibility.

During his final ship deployment, he served as Maintenance Officer for Attack Squadron (VA-172) ``Blue Bolts'', attached to USS Shangri-La (CV-38). During the extended deployment, USS Shangri-La took up position at Yankee Station, in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the Northeast coast of Vietnam. As a part of Task Force 77, the ``Shang'' served as a crucial launch site for air strikes over North Vietnam. Lieutenant Commander Wilson's superlative management and meticulous attention to detail ensured an unmatched level of operational readiness for all planes attached to the ``Blue Bolts.'' Throughout his career, Lieutenant Commander Wilson's initiative, perseverance, personal sacrifice, and loyal devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Miller for yielding.

I want to talk about faith. What is faith? Thankfully, the Bible contains a clear definition in Hebrews 11:1. It says: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

So faith is trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove. Trust is actually relying on the fact that something is true. This biblical definition of faith doesn't only apply to salvation, which is God's gift to us, but to the rest of our Christian life. We are to believe what the Bible says and we are to obey it. That is called living by faith.

We are to believe the promises of God, we are to agree with the truth of God's word, and we are to be transformed by it. Hebrews 11:6 says: Because without faith, it is impossible to please God. Without faith, we cannot be saved. Without faith, the Christian life cannot be what God intends it to be. Without faith, I wouldn't be standing in this Chamber today representing the precious people of the First District of Tennessee. Without faith, I wouldn't be able to share a hopeful message with this great Nation that if God be for us, who shall be against us?

Faith knows that no matter what the situation is in our life or someone else's life that the Lord is working within that situation for their good and His glory. Perfect faith is simply taking God at His word.

Mr. Speaker, I start by saying I am honored to be the co-chair of the Congressional Family Caucus.

We have seen the decline of the traditional family for many years, and it is not by chance this has occurred. We have come to a point in society that the restoration of the family is of the utmost importance.

Russell Kirk wrote about the problem this way: ``We cannot feel any affection for our country unless we first love those near to us. The conservative feels that the family is the natural source and core of any good society; that when the family decays, a dreary collectivism is sure to supplant it; and that the principal instrument of moral instruction, ordinary education, and satisfactory economic life always must remain the family.''

Kirk goes on to say: ``Now very powerful forces are at work to diminish the influence of the family among us, and even to destroy the family for all purposes except mere generation. Some of these forces are material and unintentional: . . . cheap amusements and transportation, which encourage members of the family to spend nearly all their time outside the family circle; the assumption of the old educational functions of the family by public schools . . . .''

He continues: ``But other forces hostile to the family are not merely impersonal and unconscious; they are more or less deliberate, and they may be countered by intelligent action in the social and educational and political spheres. The chief of these ominous forces is the deliberate desire of certain people to have the political state assume nearly all the responsibilities

which the family once possessed. This movement is the most thorough and disastrous form of collectivism.

`` `The shrewd totalitarian mentality knows well the powers of intimate kinship and religious devotion for keeping alive in a population values and incentives which might well, in the future, serve as the basis of resistance. Thus to emancipate each member, and especially the younger members, from the family was an absolute necessity. And this planned spiritual alienation from kinship was accomplished, not only through the negative processes of spying and informing, but through the sapping of the functional foundations of family membership and through the substitution of new and attractive political roles for each of the social roles embodied in the family structure. . . . What the totalitarian must have for the realization of his design is a spiritual and cultural vacuum.'''

He goes on to list some of the deliberate techniques of the mass state for undermining the family.

Number one is: ``Taking the instruction of children entirely away from their parents by the official adoption of theories that prescribe `educating the whole child' in the state schools, with a corresponding depreciation of parental intelligence and rights.''

Number two is: ``Creating `youth organizations' to take young people quite out of the sphere of the family in their leisure hours and to indoctrinate them in the ideology of the mass state.''

The third is: ``Abolishing the inheritance of family property, through confiscatory inheritance taxes or through income tax policies that leave small margin for family saving.''

The fourth one is: ``Planned encouragement of divorce, `sexual freedom,' and `deprivatization of women,' through positive legislation or official propaganda, with the aim of weakening the bonds of affection within the family that offer a strong barrier to the wishes of the total state.''

``The traditional family--which, like many old-fashioned things, is an indispensable thing--gives us those roots without which we all would be just so many lonely little atoms of humanity, unprincipled and at the mercy of some iron political domination.''

Do you know when this little book was written, Mr. Speaker? That was written in 1957.

Kirk's insights about family, the importance of private property, education, religion, and a dozen other subjects not only remain completely sound but now seem downright prophetic.

We were being warned about the attacks on the family unit more than 60 years ago. That is why, as chosen leaders, we have the responsibility to protect the sanctity of the traditional family because marriage and family are institutions unique to human beings among all of God's creation.

In modern-day wording by the author Tim Clinton in a book from 2021, he says this: ``Suffice it to say that the deterioration of the American family is the source of nearly every symptom of cultural decline, from criminal activity to plunging academic performances, from damaged mental health to poor physical health, from rising poverty to shredded social networks.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life, service, and sacrifice of Major General Gary Lynn Harrell. The retired two-star Green Beret and legendary Delta Force Leader lost his hard- fought battle with cancer at the age of 71 and was called home to be with his savior.

Gary Harrell was born in Jonesborough, Tennessee to Henry and Louise Harrell. Tennessee mourns the loss of a dedicated patriot, loving father, husband, and friend; a truly inspirational man.

Major General Harrell lived a life that most of us have difficulty imagining. He hunted the Columbian drug lord, Pablo Escobar, led an operation to free American hostages from a prison in Panama, fought our enemies in the Gulf, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, commanded Delta Force operations, and simultaneously raised a family with his wife and high school sweetheart, Jennifer.

Harrell suffered severe injuries in 1993, serving during Operation Gothic, a manhunt for Somali warlords that led to the Battle of Mogadishu. He recovered from these injuries and rededicated himself to another 15 years in uniform, proving his heart for service was stronger than external challenges.

The men who served with Harrell during that operation remember him as a respected commander and a trusted leader, bringing commands together and leading with honor, quiet dignity, and valor.

Even after hanging up his uniform, Harrell continued to do good and give back, joining the board of Task Force Dagger Special Operations Foundation which aids wounded, ill, and injured operators and their families.

He also served on the board of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga and stayed active in communities close to home, chairing the Washington County Republican Party.

Gary was described by close friends and family as a ``strong, Christian patriot'' and a ``giant among giants''. He will be so dearly missed and fondly remembered.

May the legacy of Major General Gary Lynn Harrell live on in the hearts of those who loved him and served alongside him. May we always remember his courage, sacrifice, and dedication to this great Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Staff Sergeant Frederick LeRoy Warner, Jr., fondly known as Teddy, who was called home to be with his savior in December.

Teddy grew up with his brother in a strong Christian household where he grew his faith with the guidance and nurturing of his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.

He was raised in Texas and upon graduation from High School enlisted in the United States Army where he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm and was honorably discharged.

After the Army, he earned his degree in Arts in History from the University of Houston but felt like his duty to his country was not finished.

Ted reenlisted in the Army and joined the 5th Special Forces Group where he fought in three combat deployments in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. For his valor in Iraq, he earned medals of commendation for his courage and heroism under enemy fire. He returned home safely and finished out his military service in the Texas National Guard where he earned a Master's Degree in Business in Security Management.

Ted was not only a decorated war veteran, but he was also a beloved missionary to everyone in his life. He understood the urgency of coming to know Jesus Christ and dedicated himself to uplifting others through his faith.

America is the land of the free and home of the brave because of Godly men with a heart for service, like Ted. He lived his life in service to others and will be missed dearly.

May his legacy and memory live on in the hearts of those who loved him and served with him, and may we always remember the sacrifices he made for this great Nation.