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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4955 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.4955

                     One Hundred Eighteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America

                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
         the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-four

                                 An Act

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

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds the following:
        (1) Henry Parham was born in Emporia, Virginia, in November 
    1921.
        (2) At age 21, Henry Parham was drafted into the Army and 
    shipped out to England in 1943 with the 320th Barrage Balloon 
    Battalion in preparation for the D-Day invasions.
        (3) The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a segregated Army 
    unit, consisted of approximately 700 African-American soldiers with 
    the mission of hoisting barrage balloons designed to entangle 
    incoming German planes and prevent them from conducting strafing 
    runs on ground troops.
        (4) On June 6, 1944, Private First Class Henry Parham and his 
    section of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion landed at Omaha 
    Beach. With the threat of enemy sniper and rifle fire ever present, 
    PFC Parham's unit performed their duties, hoisting their barrage 
    balloons 2,000 feet into the air over the beachhead in Normandy.
        (5) For two months, Private First Class Henry Parham and the 
    320th Barrage Balloon Battalion stood watch at Omaha Beach, keeping 
    the pipeline of incoming supplies and Allied troops secure before 
    returning to the United States in September 1944.
        (6) After his service, Henry Parham moved to Wilkinsburg, 
    Pennsylvania, where he lived and worked as a heavy equipment 
    operator until 1986. There, he met and married his wife, Ethel 
    Parham, to whom he was married for more than 45 years.
        (7) Henry Parham died on July 4, 2021, in Pittsburgh, 
    Pennsylvania, at the age of 99. He was survived by his wife, Ethel, 
    both of whom served for decades as volunteers at the medical center 
    of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
    and local chapters of veterans service organizations.
        (8) Henry Parham was the last surviving African-American combat 
    veteran who took part in the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.
SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF HENRY PARHAM DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
CLINIC.
    (a) Designation.--The community-based outpatient clinic of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, shall 
after the date of the enactment of this Act be known and designated as 
the ``Henry Parham Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic'' or the 
``Henry Parham VA Clinic''.
    (b) Reference.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the community-
based outpatient clinic referred to in subsection (a) shall be 
considered to be a reference to the Henry Parham VA Clinic.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.
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