H. R. 9124 
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 Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic 
in Auburn, California, as the ‘‘Louis A. Conter 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) Louis ‘‘Lou’’ Anthony Conter was born on September 
13, 1921, in Ojibwa, Wisconsin. 
(2) Lt. Commander Lou Conter, the last remaining survivor 
of the attack on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, was an 
American hero. 
(3) On that fearful day, Petty Officer Conter helped evac-
uate shipmates who were blinded, wounded, or burned, even 
restraining some of his fellow shipmates from jumping over-
board into the burning sea. 
(4) In the days after the attack, he helped with recovering 
bodies and putting out fires. Lou Conter’s heroic actions saved 
the lives of many of his shipmates on December 7, 1941. 
(5) Following Pearl Harbor, Conter continued serving 
during WWII in New Guinea and in Europe as an enlisted 
naval aviation pilot assigned to VP-11, a ‘‘Black Cat’’ Squadron. 
(6) Lou Conter would be awarded with the Distinguished 
Flying Cross for actively taking part in the rescue of 219 
Australians trapped by Japanese troops in New Guinea. 
(7) Later, in the Korean War, he served on the USS Bon 
Homme Richard as both an intelligence officer and a navy 
aviation pilot. Following his service in the Korean War, he 
served as a military intelligence advisor to three Presidents: 
Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. John-
son. 
(8) During the 1950s, Lou Conter played a prominent role 
in the establishment and development of the Navy Survival, 
Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training program. 
(9) In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross, he was 
awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and became the first 
recipient of the USS Arizona Medal of Freedom. 
(10) Louis Conter retired from the Navy in 1967 after 
serving 28 years as a Lieutenant Commander. 
(11) Following his retirement, he generously gave his time 
to share his personal experiences at veterans’ ceremonies and 
by giving lectures to students.
H. R. 9124—2 
(12) Lieutenant Commander Conter’s lectures were popular 
with generations of local students who were equally fascinated 
and enthralled by his first-person accounts. 
(13) He is eminently deserving of recognition for his decades 
of service to a grateful nation. 
(14) Lieutenant Commander Conter passed away in Grass 
Valley, California on April 1, 2024. 
SEC. 2. NAME OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMUNITY- 
BASED OUTPATIENT CLINIC, AUBURN, CALIFORNIA. 
The Department of Veterans Affairs community-based out-
patient clinic in Auburn, California, shall after the date of the 
enactment of this Act be known and designated as the ‘‘Louis 
A. Conter VA Clinic’’. Any reference to such clinic in any law, 
regulation, map, document, record, or other paper of the United 
States shall be considered to be a reference to the Louis A. Conter 
VA Clinic. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.