Joe Madison KILGORE, Congress, TX (1918-1999)

KILGORE, Joe Madison, a Representative from Texas; born in Brown County, near Brownwood, Tex., December 10, 1918; attended the public schools of Rising Star, Tex.; moved with his family to Mission, Hidalgo County, Tex., in 1929; attended the public schools; attended Westmoreland College (now Trinity University), San Antonio, Tex., in 1935 and 1936; interrupted law schooling at the University of Texas in July 1941 to enlist in the United States Army Air Corps and served as a combat pilot in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations; separated from the service as a lieutenant colonel in 1945; awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters; returned to the University of Texas Law School; was admitted to the bar in 1946 and commenced the practice of law in Edinburg, Tex.; member of the State house of representatives, 1947-1954; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1956, 1960, and 1968; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-fourth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1955-January 3, 1965); was not a candidate for renomination in 1964 to the Eighty-ninth Congress; resumed the practice of law; was a resident of Austin, Tex., until his death there on February 10, 1999; interment in the Texas State Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present