COCHRAN COSPONSORS BILL TO BESTOW
CONGRESSIONAL MEDALS UPON FALLEN HEROES OF 9/11
Bill Also Authorizes Replicas for 9/11 Memorials and Emergency Response Stations
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today reported his support of legislation to bestow Congressional Medals on the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Cochran is cosponsoring the Fallen Heroes of 9/11 Act (S.3238), which authorizes the President, on behalf of Congress, to grant medals to the next of kin or personal representative of those who perished in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on United Airlines Flight 93 that was brought down in Pennsylvania. At least four victims with close ties to Mississippi died in those attacks.
“The American people will never forget the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who lost their lives on 9/11,” Cochran said. “As we look toward the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, I believe these medals will be a symbol to the nation, and especially to the victims’ families, of the heroism and sacrifice that was displayed on that tragic day.”
The legislation, authored by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), is pending in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. The legislation would authorize the casting of three designs to commemorate the sites of each separate attack.
In addition to casting medals for the victims’ families, the measure would also provide duplicates to be showcased at the three 9/11 memorials: the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Flight 93 National Memorial Project in Somerset County, Pa.
Bronze duplicates would also be presented to every precinct house, firehouse, or emergency response station that employed an early responder who perished.
To offset the cost of the medals, the U.S. Treasury Department would make bronze duplicates available for sale to the general public.
Victims with close Mississippi ties who died in the 9/11 attacks include:
- James D. Cleere, a Hattiesburg High School graduate and insurance representative, who died in the World Trade Center
- Lieutenant Colonel Jerry “D.D.” Don Dickerson, Jr., U.S. Army, of Durant, Miss., who died in the attack on the Pentagon
- James “Joe” Ferguson, also a Durant, Miss., native and director of National Geographic Society’s education outreach program, who died when American Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon
- Ada L. Mason-Acker, a Picayune, Miss., native and civilian budget analyst for the Army, who died at the Pentagon
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