Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor Post Office

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, of the several postal namings that we will be voting on today, in my humble opinion, none can recognize a more significant contribution than this one. Many will pay honor to those who have served their country, particularly those in the military.

But this post office, located at the Mainside of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, is being named not on behalf of one or two or five, but for the many, many, many marines who have deployed from Camp Pendleton since 1942.

With over 42,000 marines and sailors currently stationed there and with its history in World War II, the Medal of Honor recipients whose names will appear on the plaque at what is now a numbered Mainside post office will remind all of those who come to that base and come to that facility that people like Colonel William Barber, who received the Medal of Honor for actions at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, and over 250 Medal of Honor recipients, more than any other base I know of in the world--it will represent those who gave their last measure, those who did for their colleagues and their comrades far more than any of us could imagine ever finding the courage to do.

I hope the naming of this will finally allow us to name what we do not have enough roads for, we do not have enough signs for, we do not have enough post offices for, and that is to recognize that the base at Camp Pendleton and its post office, as a result of the authority of this committee, has put out corpsmen and marines for decades who have served our country in a way that no other base could take such pride in.

I hope that all who hear this will recognize that we have named many post offices after an individual, but never after an act. And the act of heroism that earns the Medal of Honor is unparalleled to any American.

I thank the chairman for his assistance, and I thank the ranking member for bringing this bill in a timely fashion.

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