James C. Justice

Mr. President, I rise to acknowledge Col. William Bryan Annie, who is retiring on July 1, 2026, after more than 30 years of military service to our country and the great State of West Virginia.

Colonel Annie grew up in Kanawha County, and in October 1995, he put on a uniform for the first time, joining the 130th Security Forces Squadron of the West Virginia Air National Guard. While serving, he pursued his education, earning a bachelor of science in 1999 and completing airman's leadership school. At that time, he had risen to the rank of staff sergeant, and in 2000, he attended the Academy of Military Science where he then commissioned as a second lieutenant. Colonel Annie wore the bars and then the oak leaves and eventually the eagle of a full colonel--pinned on June 3, 2020--a promotion that capped an arc of relentless growth and deep responsibility.

Colonel Annie's career in uniform transcended national borders and demanded mastery of nearly every facet of Air Force support operations. He completed several overseas missions, including to South Korea for Operation Team Spirit and Operation Foal Eagle. In immediate response to the attacks on September 11, 2001, Colonel Annie mobilized for Operation Noble Eagle. In 2009, he deployed to Baghdad as a Coalition Joint Plans Officer with Multi-National Force Iraq, serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Throughout his career, he served as a Transportation Officer, Logistics Readiness Officer, and as a Plans Officer. No matter the time, the place, or the task, Colonel Annie dedicated his life to our great Nation.

After returning from Iraq, Colonel Annie took on installation and security responsibilities at the State headquarters level, then moved into command. As the Force Support Squadron commander of the 167th Airlift Wing in Martinsburg, a strategic airlift unit flying the C-17A Globemaster III, he was responsible for the morale, welfare, and readiness of hundreds of airmen and their families. He then commanded the 167th Mission Support Group, overseeing the broad infrastructure of the wing before being selected as deputy wing commander, where he helped guide more than 1,100 military members in training and worldwide missions. His command career was defined by steadiness, accountability, and genuine care for the people under his charge.

Colonel Annie received extensive decorations for his service: a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, a Meritorious Service Medal with five oakleaf clusters, Air Force and Army Commendation Medals, a Combat Action Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal with six service stars, the NATO Medal with a service star. He also received State awards from West Virginia to fill an additional column, including the Distinguished Unit Awards, Emergency Service Ribbons, and Commendation Medals. Taken together, they are not merely a collection of ribbons, but a map of a life lived wherever the mission required, doing whatever the mission demanded.

Colonel Annie is a West Virginian in the deepest sense--rooted in his community, committed to its people, and unwilling to mistake rank or recognition for purpose. He was a soldier-scholar, a commander-servant, and by every measure, the kind of officer the institution of the West Virginia National Guard was built to produce. His leadership in the military organization will be felt for many years to come, as well as his positive impact on the many, many lives he changed for the better. I express my sincerest gratitude for Colonel Annie's service and patriotism, and I send my best wishes for his health and happiness in retirement.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, June 23. You know, it is a beautiful sunny day in a lot of places in this country right now. And June 23 is usually that in West Virginia, but I can tell you all that 10 years ago--10 years ago today--June 23 turned into one really, really tough period in my great State.

I am here today to speak on just one thing, and for one reason and one reason alone, and that is just this: I am here to speak for all the great people that pulled the rope together, that did every single thing we had to do at a time when it was tragic beyond all comprehension.

I am here to tell you just a couple of stories, but just imagine this: I was just beginning or in the middle of running for Governor, my first term, in the State of West Virginia.

All of a sudden, it started raining that morning, and it rained-- rained like none of us have ever seen. Eleven inches of rain in West Virginia over just a short period of time is astronomical beyond all comprehension. Eleven inches of rain in a lot of places in this country is no big deal, but 11 inches of rain in the mountains of West Virginia is one big, big, big deal.

Just imagine this: We were getting ready at the Greenbrier to have a FedEx golf tournament for the PGA Tour. At 2 o'clock in the day, I went down to inspect all the build-out that we had done. We were just days away from having the golf tournament. The PGA asked us to build this little footbridge across Howard's Creek, and I did it. It cost $7,000. I thought it was absolutely the most ridiculous thing that I had ever done, but I did it.

At 2 o'clock in the day, I went down there to just look and to see what Howard's Creek was all about, and I could see the water was almost at the bottom of this little footbridge that I had built across Howard's Creek for the players to walk across. I said: You know, that $7,000 that I spent right there for that is just going to go ``shoop,'' and it is going to zip right away.

Two hours later--2 hours later--I left the Greenbrier to go to an event in Charleston, WV, and when I went out the front gate of the Greenbrier and turned and started down the little hill, the water was almost mountain to mountain--that fast, a solid moat. I thought, well, I can drive through this, and it won't be too awful bad.

Well, I drove through it downstream. It was probably the dumbest thing in the world to do, but I got through it, had a flat tire, and I knew then I had to get back into the Greenbrier because there was something taking place that none of us had ever seen.

Now, just think about this just for a second. We had 15 people die in Greenbrier County. Twenty-three people died in West Virginia. Communities like Elkview and all kinds of schools, a third of the population--a third of the entire population of the entire State was without power. It was just flat unbelievable.

But to take it one step further, we hunted bodies all over the place. We found three different bodies on the golf courses. And I think about Ashley Cagle, a young lady who absolutely served in our U.S. Army. Imagine this: Ashley Cagle waded out into one of the ponds on the golf courses to pull one of the bodies out of the pond.

I think about a friend and a good, good young man, Andrew Sullivan, and the courage he had. His family lost everything, and then the tragedy beyond that is astronomical, but he had the courage--the courage--to stay together.

I think about Ronnie Scott and Tom Bill Dudley. I think about that just for one second. I am a basketball coach. And at the scorer's table, there they were, game after game after game after game, keeping the clock and the book.

Tom Bill's house was washed completely away.

Ronnie Scott absolutely told his wife he was going to take the car and the kids and go to high ground, and he did. Then, all of a sudden, he looked back. His wife was supposed to get the dog and the other car and come to high ground, and all of a sudden, the phone rang, and it was his wife. His wife said: Ronnie, I can't get out of the house now. The water is coming up too fast.

So Ronnie started climbing a hill to where he could see his house, the rain just pouring down on him. All of a sudden, the next time the phone rang, it was his wife, and his wife said: Ronnie, I am in the attic, and I smell gas.

Then, all of a sudden, the entire house exploded like a bomb had hit that house and leveled it right to the ground. It blew her 70 feet into a tree--third-degree burns. Three days later, she died.

There is story after story after story of the courage of how we hung together.

One of the great moments that I was able to do--and a lot of people say: Boy, that was unbelievable that you did it.

I would say: Bull feathers. It was what we do in West Virginia.

We opened the Greenbrier to anybody to just come in and stay there. They

walked in with no shoes on. They walked in--700 of them. The great thing about it is the people of the Greenbrier took care of them and tried to help them in every single way they possibly could, even to the point of teaching them swimming lessons--the little kids.

I am telling you today is a day that I will never forget, and it is hard for me to talk without having big, giant tears in my eyes. And I can tell you just this: I don't want you to ever forget all those great people that bound together. That is what this country does. That is what West Virginians do. We bind together to be able to do something that no one thought we could even do, and that is build back and come back.

Now, there is tragedy after tragedy after tragedy that happens all over the place. The first responders, the National Guard--on and on and on--were so unbelievable, it was off the chart. But the last thing I will tell you is just this: Imagine wading in the mud looking for the bodies. For 6 weeks--6 weeks--every day, I would go there. I suspended the campaign and everything, which you just should do, for crying out loud. You know, every day I would go there, and we would look for a little 14-year-old girl, Mykala Phillips. Whew. We finally found her 6 miles downstream.

Absolutely--I have said this prayer so many times that I can't tell you. When I would be on the way there, I would be praying that, please, Lord, some way somehow, let me see where she is, and let me go there and just take my coat and lay it on her and then call for help. This family is hurting so bad, it is unbelievable.

Well, we finally found her.

I think about the National Guard wading in all that mud, and I think about all these families. It is unbelievable--totally, absolutely unbelievable.

The last thing I will tell you is just imagine this: Family after family after family--their house was just full of mud, full of mud; all their memories, all their pictures, all their photo albums, all their everything. Literally, they took it out in the street and just piled it in a pile, mud and everything. Along would come an end loader with the National Guard and pick it up and throw it in a dump truck, and off it would go.

I am telling you, the people of West Virginia are really good, and they had to stay together to get through that. It was the worst disaster I have ever seen in my life. And I know that across this country, from time to time, there is tough stuff, and we have just got to come together. We did it in West Virginia. We have done it across this country over and over and over. And I salute this great country and the great State of West Virginia in every way.

I ask you just this: On this day 10 years ago--say a little prayer at some point in time today for all those great people of West Virginia-- the 23 that we lost all across the State, all those that had to come together to absolutely build and become stronger. God bless each and every one of them.

Thank you so much for letting me speak.

I yield the floor.