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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2693 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2693

  To designate the arboretum at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical 
 Center in Richmond, Virginia, as the ``Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum''.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2015

Mr. Brat (for himself, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Wittman, Mr. Rigell, 
    Mr. Forbes, Mr. Hurt of Virginia, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Beyer, Mr. 
 Griffith, Mrs. Comstock, Mr. Connolly, and Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To designate the arboretum at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical 
 Center in Richmond, Virginia, as the ``Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum''.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Phyllis Eason Galanti, a tireless advocate for the 
        rights of prisoners of war from the United States during the 
        Vietnam War and a beloved member of the Richmond, Virginia, 
        community, died on April 23, 2014.
            (2) Ms. Eason graduated from the College of William and 
        Mary in 1963 and shortly afterward was married to Paul Edward 
        Galanti, a pilot with the United States Navy, at the Chapel of 
        the Centurion in Fort Monroe, Virginia.
            (3) In June 1966, when Mr. Galanti was shot down over North 
        Vietnam, captured, and held prisoner, Phyllis E. Galanti became 
        active in the National League of Families of American Prisoners 
        and Missing in Southeast Asia, soon becoming chair of the 
        organization.
            (4) Mrs. Galanti spearheaded the Let's Bring Paul Galanti 
        Home project as part of the national Write Hanoi campaign--
                    (A) to raise awareness;
                    (B) to secure the return of more than 600 soldiers 
                from the United States who were missing in action or 
                held as prisoners of war in Vietnam; and
                    (C) to ensure that prisoners of war were treated in 
                accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
            (5) The efforts of Mrs. Galanti under the Let's Bring Paul 
        Galanti Home project, the most successful of many such 
        campaigns, resulted in more than 1,000,000 letters that were 
        personally delivered to the North Vietnamese embassy in 
        Stockholm, Sweden, in 1971.
            (6) Mrs. Galanti became known as ``Fearless Phyllis'', 
        traveling to Versailles, France, seeking an audience with North 
        Vietnamese leaders, and giving hundreds of presentations to 
        policy leaders in the United States, including President 
        Richard Nixon, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, and 
        Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr., who said of her in 
        1975, ``One dedicated woman and a handful of others had more 
        influence on the communist world than legions of armies and 
        diplomats.''.
            (7) After more than seven years apart, Mrs. Galanti was 
        reunited with her husband Paul Galanti at the Naval Air Station 
        in Norfolk, Virginia, on February 15, 1973.
            (8) Mrs. Galanti spent decades confronting the issue of 
        prisoners and hostages from the United States, not only in 
        Vietnam but also in the Soviet Union and Iran.
            (9) Mrs. Galanti actively supported the Virginia Home, 
        Theatre IV, and the Virginia Repertory Theatre, visited 
        schools, and continued to meet with lawmakers until she died on 
        April 23, 2014, at age 73, from complications with leukemia.
            (10) The work of Mrs. Galanti earned her the American 
        Legion Service Medal, and the Paul and Phyllis Galanti 
        Education Center at the Virginia War Memorial was named in 
        honor of her and her husband.
            (11) The leadership at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical 
        Center in Richmond, Virginia, including Director John 
        Brandecker, seeks to recognize Mrs. Galanti by naming the 
        arboretum at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in her 
        honor.
            (12) It is a fitting tribute that Congress name the 
        arboretum after such an outstanding advocate for members of the 
        Armed Forces of the United States and veterans.

SEC. 2. PHYLLIS E. GALANTI ARBORETUM AT HUNTER HOLMES MCGUIRE VA 
              MEDICAL CENTER IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

    (a) Designation.--The arboretum at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA 
Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, shall after the date of the 
enactment of this Act be known and designated as the ``Phyllis E. 
Galanti Arboretum''.
    (b) References.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the arboretum 
referred to in subsection (a) shall be considered to be a reference to 
the Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum.
                                 <all>
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