A US Bill That Needs Attention NOW-LET US ALL DO OUR PART

GET THE US REPRESENTATIVES TO MAKE THIS BILL HAPPEN

H.R.666
Title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the establishment of a searchable database containing the names and citations of members of the Armed Forces, members of the United States merchant marine, and civilians affiliated with the Armed Forces who have been awarded the medal of honor or any other medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces, the United States merchant marine, or affiliated civilians.

Sponsor: Rep Salazar, John T. [CO-3] (introduced 1/23/2009)      Cosponsors (48)
Latest Major Action: 1/23/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.  BACK GROUND:  As webmaster for HomeOfHeroes.com, my initial purpose when I launched this site in 1998 was to highlight the stories of Medal of Honor recipients, a group of heroes who comprise fewer than 4,500 of the more than 40 million Americans who have served in uniform. In time, after requests to expand, I undertook the daunting task of finding, typing and making available citations for the awards second-only to the Medal of Honor: The Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, and Air Force Cross. When I began that in 2001 I believed it was an impossible dream and, 7 years later have surprised myself with the fact that I have digitized and posted the citations for more than 18,000 of the 24,00 awards (and hope to complete this in 2008).

 LET US ALL PITCH IN AND MAKE THIS BILL MOVE NOW!  Call Your US Representative in DC, Email Them, Fax Them.  This should not be that hard to do!  Let us Do Something Positive for the Holidays!  A gift to some dedicated people over at www.HomeOfHeroes.com  Can we get some action here ALL?  Can you make the calls and light up the switchboards in 387 Representativs offices in DC and tell them it is the least they can DO!

HR.666 

Title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the establishment of a searchable database containing the names and citations of members of the Armed Forces, members of the United States merchant marine, and civilians affiliated with the Armed Forces who have been awarded the medal of honor or any other medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces, the United States merchant marine, or affiliated civilians.
Sponsor: Rep Salazar, John T. [CO-3] (introduced 1/23/2009)      Cosponsors (48)
Latest Major Action: 1/23/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
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 COSPONSORS(48), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]:     (Sort: by date)

Rep Baca, Joe [CA-43] – 3/17/2009 Rep Bishop, Timothy H. [NY-1] – 7/31/2009
Rep Bordallo, Madeleine Z. [GU] – 1/23/2009 Rep Boren, Dan [OK-2] – 3/11/2009
Rep Boswell, Leonard L. [IA-3] – 1/23/2009 Rep Boyd, Allen [FL-2] – 1/23/2009
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] – 1/23/2009 Rep Brown, Henry E., Jr. [SC-1] – 2/23/2009
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] – 1/23/2009 Rep Cardoza, Dennis A. [CA-18] – 1/23/2009
Rep Carnahan, Russ [MO-3] – 3/3/2009 Rep Coffman, Mike [CO-6] – 1/28/2009
Rep Costa, Jim [CA-20] – 1/23/2009 Rep DeGette, Diana [CO-1] – 2/9/2009
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] – 2/25/2009 Rep Gonzalez, Charles A. [TX-20] – 4/21/2009
Rep Gordon, Bart [TN-6] – 2/23/2009 Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] – 2/9/2009
Rep Hall, John J. [NY-19] – 1/23/2009 Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] – 1/23/2009
Rep Hinojosa, Ruben [TX-15] – 2/23/2009 Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice [TX-30] – 1/23/2009
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] – 3/30/2009 Rep Kline, John [MN-2] – 1/23/2009
Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] – 3/30/2009 Rep Linder, John [GA-7] – 1/23/2009
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] – 1/23/2009 Rep Markey, Betsy [CO-4] – 1/23/2009
Rep Marshall, Jim [GA-8] – 2/9/2009 Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11] – 2/10/2009
Rep McNerney, Jerry [CA-11] – 1/23/2009 Rep Moore, Dennis [KS-3] – 1/23/2009
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] – 1/23/2009 Rep Murphy, Patrick J. [PA-8] – 1/23/2009
Rep Murtha, John P. [PA-12] – 1/23/2009 Rep Olson, Pete [TX-22] – 9/30/2009
Rep Perlmutter, Ed [CO-7] – 1/23/2009 Rep Peterson, Collin C. [MN-7] – 3/17/2009
Rep Polis, Jared [CO-2] – 3/11/2009 Rep Rodriguez, Ciro D. [TX-23] – 1/23/2009
Rep Rogers, Harold [KY-5] – 1/23/2009 Rep Ross, Mike [AR-4] – 1/23/2009
Rep Sestak, Joe [PA-7] – 1/23/2009 Rep Shea-Porter, Carol [NH-1] – 1/23/2009
Rep Wittman, Robert J. [VA-1] – 2/9/2009 Rep Wolf, Frank R. [VA-10] – 1/23/2009
Rep Wu, David [OR-1] – 2/9/2009 Rep Young, C.W. Bill [FL-10] – 2/9/2009
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As webmaster for HomeOfHeroes.com, my initial purpose when I launched this site in 1998 was to highlight the stories of Medal of Honor recipients, a group of heroes who comprise fewer than 4,500 of the more than 40 million Americans who have served in uniform. In time, after requests to expand, I undertook the daunting task of finding, typing and making available citations for the awards second-only to the Medal of Honor: The Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, and Air Force Cross. When I began that in 2001 I believed it was an impossible dream and, 7 years later have surprised myself with the fact that I have digitized and posted the citations for more than 18,000 of the 24,00 awards (and hope to complete this in 2008). At times I became myself discouraged but, in those moments I received emails such as the following simple, but brief exchange from a former Marine in Boston, Massachusetts:

"Your web site helped us get this done."
What Ed Driscoll had done was to bring to the attention of his community that the headstone at the grave of a fellow Marine and personal friend made no mention of the fact that in the moment of valor that cost him his life, John C. Calhoun had been awarded the Navy’s highest military honor, the Navy Cross. The forgotten hero was remembered with new reverence on Veterans’ Day 2005, and his headstone engraved with the text "Navy Cross" to identify a forgotten hometown hero.

The successful passage in 2006 of the Stolen Valor Act was a long-need step in protecting the integrity of our military awards, prohibiting and providing penalties for impersonating a decorated hero. That problem is severe and the Stolen Valor Act has already proven to be a highly effective tool to uncover fraud and phonies, but FAR WORSE is the fact that the REAL HEROES, men and women who REALLY DID EARN high awards like the Silver Star or highly-respected awards like the Purple Heart, have been forgotten.

Try to find out what medals your grandfather earned in World War II, or even to get the citation that describes the heroic action that earned your father a Silver Star in Korea or Vietnam, and you will understand rather quickly how poorly has been preserved the records of our REAL heroes. Send a letter to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis to get a copy of your uncle’s awards and citations for service in the Army or Air Force in World War II or Korea and you will most likely get a letter in return that "His records are not here, they may have burned in the 1973 fire."

Over the last five years I have been able, through my own database, to help hundreds of families get those citations, thanks to the time and effort I have put into building my own awards database. (It would NOT have been humanly possible to do so without the great prior work done by other independent historians like the late Colonel Albert Gleim who started much of this and passed away before completing what others considered impossible to do.) Like Colonel Gleim, I am one person (who is not getting any younger), and know that I too, will live out my own life before I can do all that needs to be done. FURTHERMORE, it should NOT be the job of dedicated, independent historians, to insure that the history of our heroes is properly preserved.

The LEAST our Nation owes to those who have served is to properly preserve for history, and for their children and grandchildren, an accurate history of that veteran’s service, sacrifice and heroism.

In 2007 Congressman John Salazar, who successfully fought to enact the Stolen Valor Act returned with the logical follow-up legislation. He was joined in this by Congressman Patrick Murphy (PA), the ONLY Iraqi War Veteran currently serving in Congress. Their new BILL is titled:

The Military Roll of Valor Act

111TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 666

To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the establishment of a searchable database containing the names and citations of members of the Armed Forces, members of the United States merchant marine, and civilians affiliated with the Armed Forces who have been awarded the medal of honor or any other medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces, the United States merchant marine, or affiliated civilians.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. SALAZAR introduced the following bill;
Which was referred to the House Committee on Armed Services

A BILL
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Valor Roll of Honor Act of 2007’’.

SEC. 2. MILITARY VALOR ROLL OF HONOR.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 57 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
§ 1135. Military Valor Roll of Honor

‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Defense shall establish and maintain a database, to be known as the ‘Military Valor Roll of Honor’, which shall contain the names and citations of all members of the armed forces, members of the United States merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service), and civilians affiliated with the armed forces who have been awarded the medal of honor or any other medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces, the United States merchant marine, or affiliated civilians. The Military Valor Roll of Honor shall include the names of those members recorded on the ‘Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard Medal of Honor Roll’ maintained pursuant to section 1560 of title 38.’’

‘‘(b) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary of Defense shall develop the Military Valor Roll of Honor using the records of the military departments and such other sources of information as the Secretary considers to be appropriate and accurate. The Secretary of Homeland Security, with respect to the Coast Guard, and the Secretary of Transportation, with respect to the United States merchant marine, shall provide the Secretary of Defense with information regarding the names and citations of members of the Coast Guard and United States merchant marine for inclusion in the Military Valor Roll of Honor.’’

‘‘(c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Military Valor Roll of Honor shall be a searchable database and available for public inspection.’’.

(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
‘‘1135. Military Valor Roll of Honor.’’.

CURRENT STATUS:

HR 666 has been referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel (Chaired by Representative Susan Davis of California), of the House Committee on Armed Services (Chaired by Representative Ike Skelton of Missouri.)
As of April 21, 2009, the Bill is Co-Sponsored by 47 Members of Congress including:
36 Democrats and 11 Republicans
11 of the 62 Members of the Armed Services Committee
5 of the 15 Members of the Military Personnel Sub-Committee

————————————————————————
The Military Roll of Valor Act
Co-Sponsors

As of April 21, 2009, the following 47 Members of Congress
are currently Co-Sponsors in support of HR 666:

State Dist. Name Party Committee Sub-Committee
AR 4 Ross, Mike D
AZ 7 Grijalva, Raul M. D
CA 11 McNerney, Jerry D
CA 18 Cardoza, Dennis D
CA 20 Costa, Jim D
CA 43 Baca, Joe D
CA 51 Filner, Bob D
CO 1 DeGette, Diana D
CO 2 Polis, Jared D
CO 3 Salazar, John D
CO 4 Markey, Betsy D
CO 5 Lamborn, Doug R Armed Services
CO 6 Coffman, Mike R Armed Services
CO 7 Perlmutter, Ed D
A special congratulations to COLORADO where all SEVEN members of Congress,
both Democrats and Republicans, are co-sponsoring HR 666.

FL 2 Boyd, Allen D
FL 10 Young, C. W. "Bill" R
GA 7 Linder, John R
GA 8 Marshall, Jim R Armed Services
GU Bordallo, Madeleine Z. D Armed Services Personnel
IA 3 Boswell, Leonard L. D
IL 17 Hare, Phil D
IN 5 Burton, Dan R
KS 3 Moore, Dennis D
KY 5 Rogers, Harold R
MI 11 McCotter, Thaddeus R
MI 13 Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. D
MN 7 Peterson, Colin D
MN 2 Kline, John R Armed Services Personnel
MO 3 Carnham, Russ D
NH 1 Shea-Porter, Carol D Armed Services Personnel
NY 14 Maloney, Carolyn B. D
NY 19 Hall, John J. D
OK 2 Boren, Dan D Armed Services
OR 1 Wu, David D
PA 1 Brady, Robert A. D Armed Services
PA 7 Sestak, Joe D Armed Services
PA 8 Murphy, Patrick D Armed Services Personnel
PA 12 Murtha, John P. D
SC 1 Brown, Henry E., Jr. R
TN 6 Gordon, Bart D
TX 15 Hinojosa, Ruben D
TX 20 Gonzalez, Charles A. D
TX 23 Rodriguez, Ciro D. D
TX 30 Johnson, Eddie Bernice D
VA 1 Wittman, Robert J. R Armed Services Personnel
VA 8 Moran, James P. D
VA 10 Wolf, Frank R. R

TARGETED POTENTIAL CO-SPONSORS

EVERY Member of Congress is "Targeted" as a potential Co-Sponsor for HR 666. We urge EVERY person, no matter in what Congressional District they live, to contact their Representative as URGE them to sign on as a Co-Sponsor. In addition to getting your own member of Congress behind this, we have placed PRIORITY on certain Members of Congress whose Co-Sponsorship and support of HR 666 could be ESPECIALLY HELPFUL.

The following Members of Congress are at the very CORE of our effort. Getting them will be a
BULL’S EYE

Representative Ike Skelton (D/MO)
Chairman of the Armed Services Committee
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2876
Representative Susan Davis (D/CA)
Chairwoman of the Personnel Sub-Committee
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2040

The following Members of Congress Serve on the Personnel Sub-Committee. Getting them would be a
GREAT SHOT

Representative Vic Snyder (D/AR-2)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2965
Representative Loretta Sanchez (D/CA-47)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2965
Representative Thomas Rooney (R/FL-16)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-5792
Representative Henry Johnson (D/GA-4)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-1605
Representative David Loebsack (D/IA-2)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-6576
Representative Niki Tsongas (D/MA-5)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-3411
Representative Walter B. Jones (R/NC-3)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-3415
Representative Mary Fallin (R/OK-5)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2132
Representative Joe Wilson (R/SC-2)
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2452

As Members of the
House Armed Services Committee
To Which HR 666 has been Assigned
Each of the Following would be

ON TARGET

State Dist. Name Party D.C. Phone
Co-Sign Date:

AL 2 Bright, Bobby D (202) 225-2901
AL 3 Rogers, Mike R (202) 225-3261
AZ 2 Franks, Trent R (202) 225-4576
AZ 8 Giffords, Gabrielle D (202) 225-2542
CA 10 Tauscher, Ellen O. D (202) 225-1880
CA 25 McKeon, Howard P. R (202) 225-1956
CA 52 Hunter, Duncan D. R (202) 225-5672
CT 2 Courtney, Joe D (202) 225-2076
FL 1 Miller, Jeff R (202) 225-4136
FL 16 Rooney, Thomas J. R (202) 225-5792
HI 1 Abercrombie, Neil D (202) 225-2726
IA 2 Loebsack, David D (202) 225-6576
IN 8 Ellsworth, Brad D (202) 225-4636
MD 6 Bartlett, Roscoe G. R (202) 225-2721
MO 2 Akin, W. Todd R (202) 225-2561
MS 4 Taylor, Gene D (202) 225-5772
NC 7 McIntyre, Mike D (202) 225-2731
NJ 1 Andrews, Robert E. D (202) 225-6501
NJ 2 LoBiondo, Frank A. R (202) 225-6572
OH 3 Turner, Michael R. R (202) 225-6465
OK 5 Fallin, Mary R (202) 225-2132
PA 9 Shuster, Bill R (202) 225-2431
RI 2 Langevin, James R. D (202) 225-2735
SC 5 Spratt, John M., Jr. D (202) 225-5501
TN 5 Cooper, Jim D (202) 225-4311
TX 11 Conaway, K. Michael R (202) 225-3605
TX 13 Thornberry, Mac R (202) 225-3706
TX 16 Reyes, Silvestre D (202) 225-4831
TX 27 Ortiz, Solomon P. D (202) 225.7742
UT 1 Bishop, Rob R (202) 225-0453
VA 1 Whitman, Robert R (202) 225-4261
VA 4 Forbes, J. Randy R (202) 225-6365
WA 2 Larsen, Rick D (202) 225-2605
WA 5 McMorris Rodgers, Cathy R (202) 225-2006
WA 9 Smith, Adam D (202) 225-8901