Montana’s congressional delegation on Monday applauded the House passage of a bill to rename the Butte VA clinic after Charlie Dowd, a Montana Pearl Harbor veteran who died last year.
Dowd enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January 1941. He was a radioman at Pearl Harbor and during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack he ran from the barracks to the roof of the armory, where wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts he fired at low-flying torpedo bombers. That combined with the rest of his time in service in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea earned him the nickname “Devil Dog Dowd,” according to a press release from U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke’s office.
The Senate version of the bill passed in May and the legislation now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.
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The Butte community-based outpatient clinic will be known as the Charlie Dowd Department of Veteran Affairs Clinic.
The bill was introduced in the House by Zinke and the Senate version was from Sen. Steve Daines. The whole Montana delegation in April 2023 urged House and Senate leadership to pass the legislation.
“Radioman Dowd is a true example of a man who loved his community and his country and lived every day to serve both. Listening to Dowd recount his experiences from Pearl Harbor and the South Pacific and watching him tap on the table to the Morse Code he sent as a radioman will always be one of my most meaningful visits and lasting memories,” Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said in a press release. “Renaming the clinic after this American and community Hero will serve as a reminder of the life of service and commitment to patriotism Charlie Dowd lived that we can all look up to. I urge President Biden to sign this bill into law immediately.”
