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HONORING THE LIFE OF BILL REYNOLDS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Garcia) for 5 minutes.
Mr. GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a fallen hero who graced our glorious Nation for 47 years. Mr. Bill Reynolds, one of my best friends and a loyal wingman, crossed into heaven to be alongside the Lord on January 11.
As a young man, Bill also crossed oceans to fight for this Nation in the jungles of Vietnam in 1967. In fact, he was one of the few surviving members of the well-known ``The Boys of `67,'' the Army's Charlie Company, 9th Division, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment.
He was wounded in combat on the Mekong Delta on June 19, 1967, in one of the fiercest days of the Vietnam war during the Battle of My Lai. Despite being wounded, Bill continued to fight alongside his fellow Americans as they took on heavy fire. His brave service earned him the Bronze Star as well as the Purple Heart.
From an early age, Bill was a scrapper. He was a real patriot. He loved his friends, he loved his family, but his deepest love was for the United States of America and those who served to protect her. The blood he shed and the sacrifices that he made overseas during combat operations were matched only by his commitment and his passion to take care of veterans back home.
In fact, in my hometown of Santa Clarita, there is a veterans' memorial that stands today because of Bill's hard work and his advocacy. In the halls of a local veterans' support center, there are several dozen biographies of our city's local heroes, our veterans; and all of these biographies were written by Bill after he personally sat down, interviewed, and discussed their experiences with them each, individually.
Bill loved our veterans because he understood what it meant to truly serve, and he understood what it meant to truly sacrifice. In his own words he said: ``America was founded on the courage to fight for freedom, and that is what the veteran community does. They take pride in that. There is no better family than the veteran community,'' he said.
Bill was a steward of those who protected our Nation. A warrior with a big heart and a sheepdog with a big bark and an even bigger fight, and he knew what that flag, Mr. Speaker, stood for, and he would do anything to protect it.
And underneath all the passion and fight was a kind and gentle man, one of the most soft-spoken and caring men I have ever known, a husband to Meg, a role model to his sons, and a friend to thousands.
Bill knew better than anyone that our Nation is a precious one and that its survival is not pre-ordained.
He knew that our Nation is sometimes vulnerable. It is an experiment of government still in its infancy, a developing Nation that is underpinned by goodwill and dependent on the labors of good Americans willing to serve her and to fight for her for the right reasons.
We are indeed a Nation that sometimes wobbles and, in doing so, we require the steady hands of patriots and leaders. We are a Nation that is kept stable by the exertions of great Americans. People like Bill Reynolds.
Bill was an American who cared until the very end and will continue to look over us and our precious Nation like the loyal wingman that he has always been.
May God bless Bill Reynolds and his family. And may God bless this great Nation that he gave so much and fought so hard for.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 21(1), Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 21(2)
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