Recognizing Capt. Kathryn Bonner

Floor Speech

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Mrs. HARSHBARGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent Captain Kathryn Esther Bonner of Sevierville, Tennessee for her heroic service. Last year, I came to know Captain Bonner when I had the pleasure of honoring her personally at our First Congressional District's Veteran Pin Ceremony of Honor in Sevier County.

In 1967, Captain Bonner reported to Officer Training in Newport, Rhode Island as an Ensign Nurse Corps officer for the United States Navy. Upon completion of her training, she reported to Camp LeJeune Marine Corps base in North Carolina. There, she first cared for the many wounded Marines returning from the Vietnam War and began her lifelong love and respect for the Marine Corps.

In November 1969, Captain Bonner was assigned to her next duty station, aboard the USS Sanctuary AH-17, a vessel responsible for patrolling the waters off the coast of Hue, Vietnam. While aboard, she administered round-the-clock care to badly wounded service personnel, many arriving straight from the battlefield and rice paddies, as well civilian Vietnamese patients. Every day, she lived and worked in constant vigilance as she was always within feet of the wards where the wounded lay. A welcome break in the testing routine, she recollects fondly the visit from Bob Hope, Connie Stevens, and Neil Armstrong, who just a few months earlier had walked on the moon, on Christmas Eve 1969.

Captain Bonner served at many stations of duty over her extensive military career to include the Fleet Naval Hospital Comm Z14 Jacksonville and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D.C., among others. Her retirement from active-duty service in 1971 did not end her call to service as she continued her career as a Nurse in the United States Air Force Reserves. In that role, she completed flight nurse training and helped bring wounded Marines back home from the 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing. In 1988, she returned to the Navy as a Reservist and served with distinction until her formal retirement in June of 2003, after 26 years of military service. Captain Bonner received several awards and commendations during her career, including the Meritorious Service Medal, 3 Navy Commendation Medals, 2 Air Force Commendation Medals, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. She was also selected as the Outstanding Nurse of the Year 3 times in her Air Force Reserve units time of service and once as her numbered Air Force Nurse of the year. Please join me to recognize American hero, Captain Bonner and thank her for her selfless, courageous military service to our Nation.

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