WASHINGTON (AP) -- Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is hoping to name a new Veterans Affairs Hospital in Louisville, Ky. after World War I-era veteran Robley Rex.
McConnell said Friday that a fellow Kentucky veteran suggested the idea to him. Rex, who died at the age of 107 earlier this year, joined the Army when he was 18, just after World War I. He spent time in France and Germany and before he was discharged in 1922.
He was still volunteering three days a week when he was 105 and had logged more than 14,000 volunteer hours. He won the Kentucky Governor's Award for Outstanding Service last year.
McConnell, the Senate Republican Leader, said he will introduce legislation to name the new hospital after Rex but hasn't done so yet.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
