[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 28 (Wednesday, March 13, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E341]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHRISTOPHER BLAHA--HERO AVENGER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 13, 2002

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank and praise Army 
Lieutenant Christopher Blaha for his heroic actions in the defense of 
our nation. I would like to share with my fellow colleagues the 
following two articles describing Lieutenant Blaha's incredible service 
in our fight against terrorism. September 11, 2001 was a horrific day 
for the United States, yet brave men, such as Lieutenant Blaha, show us 
all that the spirit of America has not, and will not, be broken. Mr. 
Speaker, we will prevail.

                [From the New York Post, Mar. 11, 2002]

   Frontline GI's Battle Cry for Buddies Killed in WTC Attack--Hero 
                                Avenger

                           (By John Lehmann)

       On every grenade he threw at the al Qaeda fighters, New 
     Yorker Christopher Blaha wrote the name of the best friend he 
     lost to terrorists on Sept. 11.
       Also burned into the Army lieutenant's mind was the memory 
     of a second buddy, who died trying to save lives at the World 
     Trade Center.
       After a fierce eight-day fight in remote Afghan mountains, 
     24-year-old Blaha, from Great Neck, L.I., returned to safety 
     yesterday and immediately spoke of his two lost pals, Andrew 
     Stergiopoulos, who worked for bond firm Cantor Fitzgerald, 
     and FDNY firefighter Jonathan Ielpi.
       ``There was definitely a vindictive side to it--I can go 
     back and tell their families everything we did.'' Blaha said, 
     as he rested at the Bagram air base near Kandahar.
       As his fellow soldiers cheered the returning troops, Blaha, 
     fighting with the Army's 10th Mountain Division based in 
     upstate New York, told how he had written Stergiopoulos' name 
     on his grenades.
       Blaha's mom, Cooky said her son had formed a bond for life 
     with Steriopoulos as the pair grew up in Great Neck, playing 
     ice hockey for a community team, the Great Neck Bruins.
       John Hughes, the father of skating gold-medalist Sarah 
     Hughes, also played on the team. ``Andrew and Chris were real 
     close--I'm just so proud of what he's done,'' Cooky Blaha 
     told The Post.
       Steriopoulos' brother, George, said from his home in Great 
     Neck that his family was ``touched'' by Blaha's words. ``It's 
     been very hard,'' he said. ``It would have been Andrew's 24th 
     birthday on March 7.''
       ``I saw Chris going off to boot camp, and we've been hoping 
     that he's OK. That's really touching, what he said.''
       Ielpi, a 29-year New York City firefighter with two young 
     sons, had known the Blaha family for years, having attended 
     St. Aloysius elementary school in Great Neck with Christopher 
     Blaha's eldest brother, Jack.
       Ielpi's mom, Anne, said last night her family had been 
     thinking of Blaha during his Afghanistan mission and was 
     hoping he returned safely.
       ``We've known the family for years and we think it's great 
     if he can get a little retaliation,'' she said. ``It means a 
     lot to everyone.''
       Blaha had told his mom before leaving for Uzbekistan in 
     January that he would dedicate his mission to his friends.
       ``He's just a kid from Great Neck really, but he rang this 
     morning and told me he had been ordering in the planes with 
     the bombs and I couldn't believe it--he's made us all 
     proud,'' she said.

                                 ______
                                 

                   [From the News Day, Mar. 12, 2002]

  A Message With Every Grenade--How Soldier From LI Remembers a Friend

                           (By Keiko Morris)

       Mourners have remembered those lost on Sept. 11 with 
     flowers, letters, balloons released into the sky and 
     eulogies. 2nd Lt. Chris Blaha had his own way.
       He wrote the name of a childhood friend, who died in the 
     terrorist attacks, on every grenade he lobbed at enemy 
     Taliban and al-Qaida positions.
       Blaha, a 24-year-old Army officer from Great Neck, marked 
     the end of an intense battle with an excited call to his 
     mother on Sunday, using a reporter's satellite phone. He told 
     his mom about his role in Operation Anaconda, the most recent 
     U.S.-led military offensive in Afghanistan.
       He said he was filthy, cold and unshaven, but safe. He told 
     her that he directed a B-52 where to drop bombs on enemy 
     positions. And he told her about the grenades--every one in 
     memory of his friend, Andrew Stergiopoulos, 23, who worked at 
     Cantor Fitzgerald.
       ``Chris was in Ranger School on 911,'' said his mother. 
     Cooky Blaha, an office manager who lives in Great Neck. ``I 
     had to tell him . . .'' He was infuriated. she remembered.
       ``Now he feels like he can do something about it,'' she 
     said. ``I'm proud of him.''
       Stergiopoulos was not the only childhood friend of Blaha's 
     to die in the attacks. Jonathan Ielpi, 29, a New York City 
     firefighter and father of two, was friends with Blaha's older 
     brother, Jack. Blaha went into battle with the memory of both 
     in his heart, his mother said.
       Blaha went to Hofstra University and graduated in December 
     2000 on an ROTC scholarship. He went directly to basic 
     training and later to an Army Ranger School at Fort Benning 
     in Georgia. He left for Uzbekistan in January and was sent to 
     Afghanistan in late February, his mother said. That was about 
     the last time she heard from him until Sunday.
       ``I was a little worried when those guys got killed and I 
     thought things weren't going too well,'' Cooky Blaha said. 
     ``. . . He's a little, short, tough kid. He shops at 
     Nordstroms, wears Armani. He drives a Porsche. He's a Great 
     Neck kid, so I was worried. But he did great.''
       All three knew each other since they were affectionately 
     known as ``rink rats,'' young Great Neck skaters who either 
     play hockey or take up figure skating. They all played for 
     the Great Neck Bruins in a youth hockey program.
       The Great Neck Bruins retired both Ielpi's and 
     Stergiopoulos' numbers and a banner was hung at the Parkwood 
     Ice Rink as a permanent memorial, said Anne Ielpi, the mother 
     of Jonathan Ielpi. Saddle Rock Bridge, the place where 
     everyone went to stare at the burning towers on Sept. 11, was 
     renamed the 9-11 Memorial Bridge.
       Anne Ielpi heard of Blaha's tribute from a friend on Sunday 
     morning.
       ``I said, `Good for him, keep on throwing them,' '' Ielpi 
     said. ``Knowing that someone is over there doing something in 
     my son's name, it gives me solace.''

     

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