IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4955 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

AN ACT 

To name the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, as the ‘‘Henry Parham VA Clinic’’. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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HR 4955 RFS

1 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Henry Parham was born in Emporia, Vir4 ginia, in November 1921. 

5 (2) At age 21, Henry Parham was drafted into 

6 the Army and shipped out to England in 1943 with 

7 the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion in preparation 

8 for the D-Day invasions. 

9 (3) The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a 

10 segregated Army unit, consisted of approximately 

11 700 African-American soldiers with the mission of 

12 hoisting barrage balloons designed to entangle in13 coming German planes and prevent them from con14 ducting strafing runs on ground troops. 

15 (4) On June 6, 1944, Private First Class 

16 Henry Parham and his section of the 320th Barrage 

17 Balloon Battalion landed at Omaha Beach. With the 

18 threat of enemy sniper and rifle fire ever present, 

19 PFC Parham’s unit performed their duties, hoisting 

20 their barrage balloons 2,000 feet into the air over 

21 the beachhead in Normandy. 

22 (5) For two months, Private First Class Henry 

23 Parham and the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion 

24 stood watch at Omaha Beach, keeping the pipeline 

25 of incoming supplies and Allied troops secure before 

26 returning to the United States in September 1944. 


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1 (6) After his service, Henry Parham moved to 

2 Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, where he lived and 

3 worked as a heavy equipment operator until 1986. 

4 There, he met and married his wife, Ethel Parham, 

5 to whom he was married for more than 45 years. 

6 (7) Henry Parham died on July 4, 2021, in 

7 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 99. He was 

8 survived by his wife, Ethel, both of whom served for 

9 decades as volunteers at the medical center of the 

10 Department of Veterans Affairs in Pittsburgh, 

11 Pennsylvania, and local chapters of veterans service 

12 organizations. 

13 (8) Henry Parham was the last surviving Afri14 can-American combat veteran who took part in the 

15 D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. 

16 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF HENRY PARHAM DEPARTMENT OF 

17 VETERANS AFFAIRS CLINIC. 

18 (a) DESIGNATION.—The community-based outpatient 

19 clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Monroe20 ville, Pennsylvania, shall after the date of the enactment 

21 of this Act be known and designated as the ‘‘Henry 

22 Parham Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic’’ or the 

23 ‘‘Henry Parham VA Clinic’’. 

24 (b) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, regula25 tion, map, document, paper, or other record of the United 


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1 States to the community-based outpatient clinic referred 

2 to in subsection (a) shall be considered to be a reference 

3 to the Henry Parham VA Clinic. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 16, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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