119-s2682

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2682 Considered and Passed Senate

    (CPS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2682

 To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
 in West Haven, Connecticut, as the ``Captain Paul W. `Bud' Bucha VA 
 Medical Center''.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 August 2, 2025

 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself and Mr. Murphy) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
 in West Haven, Connecticut, as the ``Captain Paul W. `Bud' Bucha VA 
 Medical Center''.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Captain Paul W. `Bud' Bucha VA 
Medical Center Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha was born on August 1, 1943, in 
 Washington, DC.

    (2) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha, a recipient of the Medal of 
 Honor and an advocate for veterans, is an American hero.

    (3) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha, the son of a colonel in the 
 Army, spent his childhood in California, Germany, Indiana, 
 Japan, and St. Louis, Missouri.

    (4) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha turned down several scholarships 
 for both academics and athletics and instead enrolled in the 
 United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He went 
 on to be a two-time All-American and captain of the West Point 
 swim team. In 1965, he graduated in the top 5 percent of his 
 class and number two in Military Order of Merit.

    (5) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha earned a Masters of Business 
 Administration from Stanford University in 1967, all while 
 completing Airborne and Ranger training between academic years.

    (6) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha reported for duty with the 101st 
 Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to prepare for 
 deployment to Vietnam as part of Operation Eagle Thrust in 
 November 1967.

    (7) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha was appointed commander of 
 Company D, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. His company 
 was the last rifle company to be formed during an Army 
 expansion. He jokingly recalled that his recruits were men who 
 had flunked basic infantry tasks, former prisoners, and ``guys 
 with master's degrees in Elizabethan literature''. He took 
 pride in his company, dubbed the ``clerks and jerks''. They 
 went on to become one of the most decorated units by the end of 
 the war.

    (8) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha distinguished himself with 
 extraordinary heroism while leading 89 men on a reconnaissance 
 mission near Phuoc Vinh, Vietnam, from March 16th through 18th, 
 1968. As part of the Tet Offensive, his unit was dropped by 
 helicopter and his men set out to repel attacks by North 
 Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces. As the sun set on March 18, 
 1968, he and his men advanced into a dense jungle and found 
 themselves outgunned by approximately 1,500 enemy troops. Under 
 attack, he crawled 40 yards through the hail of fire and 
 singlehandedly destroyed a machine-gun bunker with grenades, 
 all while sustaining a shrapnel wound. He then orchestrated an 
 overnight offensive, directing his men to spread out, throw 
 grenades, and unleash heavy fire. He made the enemy believe 
 they were a much larger force. His leadership led to the defeat 
 of a superior Vietnamese stronghold, leaving 156 enemy dead. 
 Come morning, he guided the medical evacuation of three air-
 ambulance loads of seriously wounded personnel.

    (9) President Richard Nixon presented the Medal of Honor to 
 Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha in a ceremony at the White House in 1970.

    (10) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha originally wanted to turn down 
 the Medal of Honor because he did not feel deserving. In 
 Vietnam, he asked his men to trust him and, in turn, promised 
 to bring them home safe. Ten of his men were killed on the 
 night of March 18, 1968. Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha ultimately 
 accepted the Medal of Honor in their memory, saying it belongs 
 to his men.

    (11) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha resigned his Army commission in 
 1972.

    (12) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha was an active member of several 
 veterans service organizations (commonly referred to as 
 ``VSOs''), including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign 
 Wars, Disabled American Veterans, and the Vietnam Veterans of 
 America. He generously served on the board of directors of 
 Homes for Our Troops, a VSO that builds specially adapted 
 custom homes for severely injured veterans. He also served as 
 Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Veterans Employment and 
 Training Services at the Department of Labor.

    (13) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha used his voice for veterans 
 struggling with mental health. He believed that all veterans, 
 whether they have ``four stars or no stripes, man or woman'', 
 would be touched by post-traumatic stress. He used the term 
 ``post-traumatic stress'' to acknowledge the impact of combat 
 experiences on the mental health of veterans and he 
 intentionally left out the word ``disorder'' to help 
 destigmatize their struggle.

    (14) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha battled post-traumatic stress on 
 his own for 42 years before courageously seeking help at the 
 medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in West 
 Haven, Connecticut. In the final years of his life, Paul W. 
 ``Bud'' Bucha also received neurological care at that medical 
 center. His family expressed deep gratitude for the 
 compassionate and skilled care he received, especially 
 recognizing the leadership of Dr. Huned Patwa, Chief of Staff, 
 and Dr. Becky Rhoads, Executive Director. His family also 
 commended the dedicated neurologists, psychiatrists, and 
 oncologists who supported him as his health declined.

    (15) Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha spent the last two weeks of his 
 life at the medical center of the Department in West Haven, 
 Connecticut, and passed away from complications of Alzheimer's 
 disease on July 31, 2024. In his final act of courage and 
 service, he donated his brain to the Center for Human Brain 
 Discovery at Yale University.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF CAPTAIN PAUL W. ``BUD'' BUCHA VA MEDICAL CENTER.

    (a) In General.--The medical center of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs in West Haven, Connecticut, or any successor location for such 
medical center, shall after the date of the enactment of this Act be 
known and designated as the ``Captain Paul W. `Bud' Bucha Department of 
Veterans Affairs Medical Center'' or the ``Captain Paul W. `Bud' Bucha 
VA Medical Center''.

    (b) Reference.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the medical 
center referred to in subsection

    (a) shall be considered to be a 
reference to the Captain Paul W. ``Bud'' Bucha VA Medical Center.
 <all>