[Pages H1213-H1214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING SECOND CLASS PETTY OFFICER MARILYN CHILDRESS

  (Mr. BURCHETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURCHETT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Second Class Petty 
Officer Marilyn Childress, a woman who served during the Vietnam war.
  Marilyn Childress enlisted in the Navy in 1972. Since women were not 
allowed in combat areas at the time, she was attached to the dispensary 
at Naval Air Station Glynco, Georgia, and then at the then-Naval Air 
Station Millington, Tennessee, as an operating room technician 
corpswoman.
  After completing her service to her country in 1975, Marilyn enrolled 
at the University of Tennessee and earned her master's degree. She 
settled in Georgia upon the completion of her degree, where she became 
the first female president of the Georgia Amateur Women's Soccer 
Association. Perhaps her greatest accomplishment was her work in 
getting women's soccer recognized as an Olympic sport in 1996.
  When she returned to Knoxville in 2013, she helped establish the 
Veterans Heritage Site Foundation, which created the Sharp's Ridge 
Veterans Memorial Park in Knoxville, Tennessee, my hometown.
  Our country's heroes are the men and women of our Armed Forces like 
Marilyn Childress who served in sacrifice for our freedom.
  It is my honor to recognize Second Class Petty Officer Marilyn 
Childress

[[Page H1214]]

as the Tennessee Second District's February 2020 Veteran of the Month.

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