FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONGRESS NAMED A VA CLINIC FOR FOUR LIBERTY COUNTY SONS KILLED IN
VIETNAM. THE CLINIC STILL DOESN'T BEAR THEIR NAME.

HINESVILLE, Ga. — In 2024, Congress passed and the President signed Public
Law 118-61, designating the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic
in Hinesville, Georgia, as the "John Gibson, Dan James, William Sapp, and
Frankie Smiley VA Clinic" — in honor of four Liberty County men who were
killed in action in Vietnam in 1968.

    "...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that
     cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion..."
        — Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

More than two years later, the clinic's primary exterior signage still reads
"Ralph H. Johnson Healthcare System" — a name Congress never authorized for
this facility — while the four heroes' Congressionally mandated name appears
only on a smaller monument sign at the road. A geo-tagged photograph taken by
a City of Hinesville building inspector in September 2024 shows both signs
side by side.

According to the VA's own records, the Charleston VA leadership spent
$87,399.55 on the unauthorized exterior signage — part of roughly $230,000 in
documented signage modifications across the system — and submitted no
design-manual variance for the work, as the VA's own rules require.

The effort to honor the four heroes was led by Liberty County veterans and
Gold Star families. Having exhausted the VA's administrative channels, the
plaintiffs have prepared a federal lawsuit under the Administrative Procedure
Act and the Mandamus Act to compel the VA to fully comply with Public Law
118-61 and make the heroes' name the clinic's primary identification.

The ask is simple: honor the law, and the four men, that Congress already
chose to honor.

THE FOUR HEROES
- PFC John Gibson, U.S. Marine Corps — Riceboro, GA; KIA Feb. 7, 1968.
- SP4 Dan James, U.S. Army — Riceboro, GA; KIA Dec. 29, 1968.
- SP4 William Sapp, U.S. Army (Bronze Star w/ Valor) — Hinesville, GA; KIA June 7, 1968.
- LCpl Frankie Smiley, U.S. Marine Corps — Liberty County, GA; KIA Aug. 25, 1968.

MEDIA CONTACT
Bruce McCartney
Email: popz@coastalnow.net
Phone: (912) 884-6401
SFC, U.S. Army (Ret.), Vietnam DUSTOFF medic; led the renaming effort.

Website: https://4sonsofliberty.com

# # #

This release is issued by an independent group of veterans and supporters. It
is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official publication of the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs.
