The Congressional Veteran Commendation (CVC) for the Ninth District of Indiana is a nominations-based program designed to publicly recognize the wartime sacrifices and peacetime community involvement of veterans.  The great sacrifices of our veterans deserve the utmost recognition, and our office is proud to help ensure that their devotion to this country is not forgotten.

To be eligible, veterans must currently reside in the Ninth Congressional District.  Nominees must have served as active duty military personnel or been reservists called to active duty and must be retired or honorably discharged from a branch of the United States Armed Forces. 

Anyone can serve as a nominator and submit as many nominations as they would like by filling out the 2015 Nomination Form.   Complete nomination packets should be mailed, faxed, or hand-delivered to any of your 9th District Constituent Service Centers. The deadline for 2015 nominations will be announced in the near future.  If you have any questions or inquries regarding the nomination process, or if you are unable to access the nomination form, please click here.

Please call (812) 288-3999 for additional details.

View/Download the Nomination Form Here

2014 CVC Winners

• Staff Sergeant Merrill E. St. John: Today, we honor Staff Sergeant Merrill E. St. John for his contributions in service to his country and community. He grew up on a farm in Martinsville, and enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943, shortly after turning eighteen. Even before entering basic training, he was tasked with guiding the rest of his induction class by train – a total of two-hundred-forty-six men – from Indianapolis to Fort Sheppard, Texas.
  
  After completing Basic Training in Texas and specialized training as a Radio Operator and Mechanic in Sioux Falls, ND, he was assigned to C-47 transport in the 441st Troop Carrier Group. He would serve in several campaigns including, Rome-Arno, Normandy, the Ardennes, Holland, and the Rhineland.
  
  His training for the D-Day invasion took place in the UK; during this time, Sgt. St. John met and spoke with General Eisenhower for several minutes. His combat experience includes several instances of bravery and steadiness under fire. One example is when a German 88mm shell cut clean through their aircraft and sent an aluminum shard into Sgt St. John ’s face. During the Battle of the Bulge, the 441st was instrumental in providing desperately needed supplies to the famed 101st Airborne Division, which was encircled by enemy troops in Bastogne, Belgium. When clouds prevented visual contact with US Army checkpoints on the ground, it was St John who found the beacon on radar that was coded “Bastogne”. The entire Squadron was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. Later, the Squadron received a second Unit Citation for resupplying troops in a US spearhead south of Frankfurt. In an area under heavy mortar attack, they rapidly landed their planes, unloaded them, and returned to the air.
  
  After his honorable discharge in October 1945, Mr. St. John helped erect a world-class Veterans' Memorial in Martinsville. Upon his relocation to Orleans, Indiana he was again involved with the construction of a Veterans' Memorial as a member of the American Legion. Mr. St. John has continued to contribute to his community by writing letters on behalf of Orleans Community Schools to secure grants for educational programs like Clothe-a-Child. Mr. St. John regularly plays taps at fellow Veterans' funerals, and each year helps plan the Orleans American Legion Carnival during the Orleans Dogwood Festival.
   
• Sergeant Michael O’Hara: Today we honor Sergeant Michael O’Hara, recognizing his service to our country in the United States Marine Corps and to his community. After graduating from Brown County High School in 1966, he soon enlisted into the US Marine Corps. By October 1967, he had been deployed to Khe Sanh in Vietnam, an ongoing warzone. A self-described “Grunt”, Mr. O’Hara was part of Company B, 1st Battalion 26th Regiment. In early 1968 Khe Sanh came under full siege by North Vietnamese forces. Over the span of just a few months, he was wounded on three separate occasions and awarded Purple Hearts for each instance. After being withdrawn from the battle, he returned to Garrison Duty as a Primary Weapons Instructor. Over the next few years, he supervised the training of 120,000 Marines at the Marine Base Camp in Pendleton, California.
  
  After his military service Mr. O’Hara returned to Brown County where he would not only contribute to his community, but help to build it. He started his own family and then a successful home-building business.
  
  Mr. O’Hara has been regularly involved with Veterans’ affairs around Brown County. Beginning with the dedication of Brown County’s Veterans’ Memorial in 1993. He has since been instrumental in organizing Brown County’s annual Memorial Day ceremony, and led the initiative to establish the Larry C. Banks Bronze Star Memorial Fund, a scholarship fund named for one of Mr. O’Hara’s classmates at Brown County High School. Larry Banks was one of many from Brown County who served in Vietnam, and the only one Killed in Action.
  
  Mr. O’Hara published Lest We Forget: A History of Veterans’ Affairs in Brown County, Indiana. Mr. O’Hara documents the bonds forged by men and women in service to their country during wartime. All proceeds have gone directly to the Larry C. Banks scholarship fund. Most recently, Mr. O’Hara heavily contributed to author Greg Jones book, Last Stand at Khe Sanh and the Bravo The Project documentary covering the heroics of his unit Bravo Company, during the Battle of Khe Sanh.
   
• Colonel Shirley M. Ohta: Today, we honor Colonel Shirley M. Ohta for her contributions in service to her country and community. Ms. Ohta joined the Army in 1966 and attended Officer Basic at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. Within two years, she was a Company Commander at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. From November 1969-November 1970, Ms. Ohta, by then a Captain, commanded the WAC's Detachment in Long Binh, Vietnam.
  
  Ms. Ohta transferred to the Army Reserves in 1971 and simultaneously began a long, successful career in the private sector. As CEO of Eagle Steel Products, she led her company to receive numerous accolades. In 2008, Eagle Steel Products was named winner of the 2008 Economic Impact Award by One Southern Indiana, National Supplier of the Year by the US Department of Commerce, and received other recognitions for supplier excellence.
  
  Now a retired Colonel Ms. Ohta continues to serve Southern Indiana. Ms. Ohta has served on numerous community organization boards including Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, One Southern Indiana, HOSPARUS-Hospice of Southern Indiana, and the American Legion Post 42 in Floyds Knobs where she resides. Ms. Ohta was appointed by the American Legion, Department of Indiana, to serve as the VA Medical Center Associate VA Volunteer Services Representative at the Robley Rex Louisville VA Hospital. She is also a VA community volunteer, and the American Legion 8th district Chairwoman.
  
  Ms. Ohta has excelled in service to her community, as she has been named Department of Indiana Auxiliary Woman of the Year in 2012.