{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/speeches/tribute-to-leon-g-felt", "TRIBUTE TO LEON G. FELT", "2019-10-23", "2019", "2019-10", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Tom McClintock", "M001177", "mcclintock.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "CONGRESSIONAL RECORD  \n\tEXTENSION OF REMARKS  \n\tTRIBUTE TO LEON G. FELT  \n\t______________________\nHONORABLE TOM MCCLINTOCK  \n\tOF CALIFORNIA  \n\tIN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES  \n\tWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019\nM. Speaker:\nI rise tonight to tell a remarkable story of the unacknowledged patriotism and heroism of a 23-year-old Army scout, who, on December 3, 1944, was immersed in the horror and peril of some of the worst of the fighting in the bloody nightmare of the Philippines campaign. At Mount Cabunganan, Technician 5th Class Leon G. Felt heroically engaged the enemy.\nHis family keeps the steel helmet he wore that day. The back half of that helmet is riddled with shrapnel holes from the inside out. A grenade exploded beneath him, and the deadly shrapnel blew up his left side, blowing off his helmet from below with enough force to pierce it.\nNow, Leon never talked much about what happened that day. The war ended, and he came home after months in Army hospitals dealing with his grave injuries. The only thing his family really knew, years later, was a brief entry in his journal. It said, Lieutenant Hanna told me he put me in for a Silver Star for what I did in the attack,'' but nothing came of it.\nHis wife told me that the Army's final orders to Leon and his comrades were: go home, get a job, look after your families. Well, that is exactly what Leon Felt did. He joined the Southern Pacific Railroad, ultimately retiring as a shop foreman. He became deeply involved in his church. He married Lois Wade, his wife of 32 years, until she died in 1976. He then married Nola Pulsipher, who survives him after 42 years of marriage. He raised eight children and today has 41 grandchildren, 110 great-grandchildren with three more on the way, and seven great-great-grandchildren.\nThe war never left him. Nola says she would often rescue him from his frequent nightmares, and all he could say through his tears was, It's either kill or be killed.'' His children only knew that he was in the thick of the war, that he had come home wounded, and that those days in the Philippines still haunted him.\nIn recent years, Leon's family began looking into his service record. Having read his journal, his daughter, Lydean, began searching for what he did that day that would have rated a recommendation for the Silver Star. They had ordered copies of his medals, but there was no mention of a Silver Star in them. He had received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, among other decorations.\nBut Lydean remained curious about that entry in his diary, and what seemed to be a confusing note on one Army form that suggested there might be something more, though there was no official record of it. Now, Lydean, who has all of the timidity of a heatseeking missile, wouldn't give up. She wrote the National Personnel and Record Center of the National Archives. The Archives could find no record of other medals, including the Silver Star. A fire in 1973, they feared, would have destroyed any record if he had. But Lydean persisted.\nThe archives kept digging, and then they stumbled upon a curious thing: a collection of citations of the most heroic deeds of World War II. In it, they found the citation for Leon G. Felt and what he did that December day in 1944. They were right about one thing: he was never awarded the Silver Star.\nOn February 12, 1945, as he lay recovering from his wounds in an Army hospital, Leon Felt had been awarded the Nation's second highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, revered more than any other medal, but the Medal of Honor itself. But somewhere along the way, probably because of a clerical error, his service record was never updated, and word never reached him. Now, here are the words that were supposed to have been spoken as he received our Nation's second highest military honor:\nTechnician Fifth Grade Leon G. Felt, Serial Number 39902244, Cavalry, United States Army. For extraordinary heroism against the enemy at Mount Cabunganan, Leyte, Philippine Islands, on 3 December 1944.\nAdvancing through very rugged terrain, his troop encountered the enemy entrenched in a strong position astride a narrow ridge. The enemy were well dug in, their rifle pits being concealed with top coverings of brush and grass. During an attack by our troops, the advance of the right platoon was temporarily diverted by heavy enemy fire, but upon receiving reinforcing fire from the left platoon, the intensity of the enemy fire slackened. Seizing this opportunity, Technician Felt, a scout for his platoon, voluntarily rushed the nearest enemy rifle pit, and grasping the top cover, stripped it off, exposing three occupants whom he killed. Continuing his advance, he reached and uncovered a second pit and killed three more enemy. He then advanced toward a third pit but was struck and wounded by the fragments from an exploding hand grenade.\nDespite his wound and the warning shouts of his comrades, he continued to push his attack, and reaching the foxhole, killed its two occupants. Unable to advance farther because of his wounds, he from his advanced position directed the attack of his platoon upon remaining enemy within the position. This attack was successful, and the enemy were driven from the position with heavy losses.\nTechnician Felt's prompt, heroic actions in voluntarily attacking the enemy single-handedly were an inspiration to his comrades and reflect the highest traditions of the United States Army. By command of General MacArthur.''\nLong ago, soldiers coined the term snafu'' to describe the military bureaucracy. It is an acronym that, roughly translated, means, Situation NormalAll Fouled Up.''\nWell, in a terrible snafu, the medal was never given to Technician Felt. He was never told of how grateful his country was for the sacrifices he made, for the bravery that saved the soldiers in his unit, and for the exemplary heroism and leadership that turned the tide of battle.\nHis family arranged to surprise him with this long-overdue presentation about 3 weeks ago on October 5. This was the Saturday before his 98th birthday. They gathered from across the country. They decorated the house and made a cake.\nI have never been more honored or more moved than to have been asked to fulfill that long-overdue presentation that General MacArthur had ordered so long ago.\nOn my way to meet this gentle giant, as his family called him, I received word that Leon Felt had passed away in the early hours of that morning, surrounded by his loving family. But they were still gathered at the house, in grief now as well as pride, and so I made the presentation posthumously to his widow, an extraordinary woman in her own right.\nThere is some consolation in this story. As his health began slipping in the days before he died, his family told him that he had been awarded the Nation's second-highest military honor and that he was about to receive it at his birthday celebration.\nMrs. Felt told me that his face brightened up, and he said, So, I really am your hero.'' And his wife replied, That is what I have been telling you all these years.''\nThe tragedy is that this honor should have followed Leon Felt throughout his life, as Shakespeare said, to remember, with advantage, what feats he did that day.'' He should have been feasted and feted, and thanked every day of his life, as this honor spoke of his courageous deeds.\nInstead of feeling guilt, he should have felt pride. For every nightmare he suffered alone, he should have enjoyed the gratitude of his fellow citizens. Instead, Technician Leon Felt, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross that he never received, did what he was told, quietly went home, got a job, and looked after his family.\nHis memorial service will be held in Dixon, California, tomorrow, and he will be buried with full military honors at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery. He will take to his grave pieces of shrapnel from the injuries he sustained at Mount Cabunganan. He will also take the Distinguished Service Cross that he was supposed to have been awarded 74 years ago.\nI want to say to his family on behalf of our country that this long-missing medal now attests that the American people finally know what the Felt family has known all along, that he really was and is our Nation's hero, too.\nMr. Speaker, I wanted to tell this story tonight, not for Leon Felt's sake, but for our country's sake, to remind us what we owe heroes like him for the sacrifices often unrecognized and unrequited that they have made, to answer James Michener's haunting question: Where do we get such men?''and also to place in the RECORD in these hallowed Halls an apology, really, for a 74-year-old clerical mistake, a snafu that prevented him from knowing in life the gratitude and respect that our Nation can now express only after his death.\nMr. Speaker, I ask that the House observe a moment of silence to honor the memory of Technician Fifth Grade Leon Gustave Felt, United States Army, recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross.\nMr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/speeches/tribute-to-leon-g-felt"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.77871885150671, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}