The name change was officially signed into Public Law 110-156 by President George W. Bush on December 26, 2007.

The rededication ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel, located at 10918 E. 41st St. in Tulsa.  Following the ceremony and reception, a statue of Ernest Childers, donated by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, will be unveiled at the VA clinic, located at 9322 E. 41st St.

Childers, who was of Creek descent, was born in Broken Arrow on Feb. 1, 1918.  He graduated from Chilocco Indian School, near Ponca City, where he boxed and learned mechanics. He joined the Oklahoma National Guard while at the school in 1937 to earn extra money.  After completing basic training at Ft. Sill, his unit, part of the 45th Infantry Division, was activated and deployed to Africa during World War II.

Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers presented 2nd Lt. Childers the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest award, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action on September 22, 1943, at Oliveto, Italy. He later came to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Childers retired in 1965 as a lieutenant colonel and worked briefly with the Job Corps program in Washington, D.C.  When he returned to Oklahoma, he began speaking to students about the emotional costs of war.

Childers was the recipient of 13 medals and bars, including the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart and the Oklahoma Distinguished Service Cross.  In addition, he was honored in 1966 by the Tulsa Chapter of the Council of American Indians as “Oklahoma’s Most Outstanding Indian” and, in 1985, the Ernest Childers Middle School was dedicated in Broken Arrow.  Childers died on March 17, 2005 at the age of 87.

Guest speakers at the ceremony include Congressman John Sullivan and Muscogee (Creek) Nation Second Chief Alfred L. Berryhill.  Mayor Kathy Taylor will also be on hand to proclaim May 27, 2008 as ‘Ernest Childers VA Outpatient Clinic Day.’