Chet Edwards For Congress

January 24, 2008

Chet Edwards to Receive VFW Congressional Award

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2008--America's oldest major veterans' organization has selected Texas Rep. Chet Edwards (D-17th) to receive its 2008 Congressional Award for his outstanding service to veterans, servicemembers and their families. The congressman, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, will be presented the award March 3 at the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. Community Service and Legislative Conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in northwest Washington.

"This award is extremely important to the VFW," said VFW National Commander George Lisicki, a Vietnam veteran from Carteret, N.J., "because it recognizes a champion who is in our corner in Congress."

August 21, 2007

Editorial: Edwards' help still needed at VA

Waco Tribune Herald
By Editorial Staff

If anyone deserves a tribute for working to save the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center it is U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards.

He will get it Wednesday when the city hosts a reception in his honor.

But it needs to be more than a tribute. It needs to be a pep rally. As much as Edwards and other allies have done to preserve the hospital, much needs to be done to enhance services and utilize an under-used campus.

In June, a similar reception was held to recognize U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for her decisive efforts in saving the hospital.

In her campaign to save the VA campus, Hutchison made several important visits to Waco, especially when she accompanied both the VA secretaries on tours of the facility.

She also sponsored legislation to designate the hospital a “mental health center of excellence.”

But no one was as diligent about this task as Edwards. His hands-on efforts helped blunt the proposal to move all of Waco’s mental health treatment programs, blind rehabilitation treatment and geriatric care units to the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center in Temple and to farm its services elsewhere around the country.

June 14, 2007
Edwards delivers funding bill for veterans

By SUZANNE GAMBOA | AP via Houston Chronicle | Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — Almost two decades after pledging to take care of veterans, Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards finally has built enough seniority in Congress to fulfill his promise.

Edwards used his post as an appropriations subcommittee chairman to deliver a $64.7 billion bill funding veterans and military construction programs to the House that is scheduled for a vote this week.

The bill provides $43.2 billion for Veterans Affairs, $6.7 billion more than provided in 2007 and the largest single increase for Veterans Affairs in its 77-year history, he said.

Edwards, D-Waco, said his one-time boss and mentor, former Rep. Olin "Tiger" Teague, a World War II veteran, advised him when he was elected in 1990 to never forget veterans.

"I have been working for 16 years to write a bill like this for veterans," Edwards said.

June 1, 2007

A heart of honor

Bryan man waits 63 years for combat medal

Bryan-College Station Eagle

By JANET PHELPS |Eagle Staff Writer

Perry Shirley waited nearly 63 years to receive a Purple Heart medal he earned during World War II.

Shirley was injured twice in less than two months while serving in the U.S. Army as a teenager in 1945. His first Purple Heart was shipped to him in 1945 while he was recovering at a U.S. hospital.

The second one came Thursday.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, presented Shirley with the medal at a brief ceremony with his family and fellow veterans at the Veterans Affairs clinic in College Station.

Shirley, 82, said he was first injured Nov. 21, 1944, as his unit was building a bridge by the light of a French town the Germans had set on fire the day before. The Germans attacked, and Shirley was taken to a field hospital with minor injuries to his jaw and shoulder.

He spent Thanksgiving in the hospital and returned to his unit just before Christmas.

A few weeks later, Shirley was injured again, this time more seriously.

Shirley was in a convoy of eight men escorting a soldier who had gone absent without leave to a court-martial when Germans attacked with a commandeered U.S. plane.

Four of the soldiers were killed and two, Shirley and the AWOL soldier, were seriously injured.

This time, Shirley's injuries sent him to a field hospital and then back to the U.S. suffering nerve damage, a missing toe and injuries to his jugular vein, arm, knee and eye.

Shirley was released on a medical discharge July 2, 1945, and arrived home in Bryan to find a Purple Heart among his belongings that had been sent back from Europe.

May 31, 2007

WWII Vet Receives Medal More Than 60 Years After Service

KBTX-TV

Kristen Ross |Reporter

A local man received his purple heart medal more than 60 years after his service to the country.

U.S. Representative Chet Edwards presented the prestigious medal to the World War II veteran, Perry Shirley.

Shirley was injured twice while serving in combat, but never received one of his medals.

Friends, family and veterans were in attendance to honor the man who risked his life for his country.

Edwards' office helped research Shirley's military record to recover the Purple Heart medal.

Thursday morning, the medal that has been absent for many years found its rightful spot next to the heart of Shirley.