[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 19, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5629-S5630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO STAFF SERGEANT ANDREW RAMIREZ

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor Staff 
Sergeant Andrew Ramirez who has served his country with bravery and 
valor. For Sergeant Ramirez, a resident of East Los Angeles, public 
service runs in the family--his brother is a detective with the Los 
Angeles Police Department.
  On March 31, 1999, Sergeant Ramirez was taken as a prison of war by 
the Yugoslavia Army while he was serving as part of a U.S. Army 
detachment assigned to a U.N. monitoring force patrolling Yugoslavia's 
southern border. Sergeant Ramirez was part of the 4th Cavalry Regiment 
of the 1st Infantry Division based in Wurzburg, Germany. He had arrived 
in Macedonia in early March to relieve another contingent.
  I cannot begin to imagine the terror experienced by Sergeant Ramirez 
and his fellow soldiers, Christopher J. Stone and Steven M. Gonzales, 
when they were surrounded, and under heavy fire, taken as prisoners of 
war.
  Just a few days later, the soldiers were shown on Serbian television, 
battered and bruised. It is a picture that every mother hopes she will 
never see. It is a picture that every American hoped was not true. But, 
it was true, and these three men paid a dear price of over a month in 
captivity. They did not know what fate would befall them and if they 
were ever going to see their families again.
  During the past weeks, Kosovo has witnessed carnage and bloodshed 
unseen in Europe for almost fifty years. These events are the 
culmination of a decade-long campaign of terror and bloodshed in the 
Balkans--and it has created a refugee crisis unparalleled in recent 
years.
  Sergeant Ramirez was in Yugoslavia because his country asked him to 
go. He was there to protect our promise that the civilized world will 
never again do nothing in the face of genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass 
rape and rampant violence to thousands of innocent people. If the most 
powerful alliance in the world fails to stop ethnic cleansing, it will 
send a green light to every tyrant and dictator with similar intentions 
that they can do the same, and that the world community will be unable 
or unwilling to muster the resolve to stop it.
  None of these words would mean anything without individuals like 
Sergeant Anthony Ramirez. He is the truest of patriots--the bravest of 
the brave. Our country is forever indebted to him, and there are not 
words nor deeds that could every repay his dedicated service--or that 
of his family. He is a testament to the human spirit that keeps the 
light of peace and human freedoms alive.
  Sergeant Ramirez, we thank you, we honor you, and we are so very, 
very glad that you are home.

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