[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 24, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING RAHEEN TYSON HEIGHTER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 2004

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues an 
address that I delivered at the memorial service of Raheen Tyson 
Heighter, a fallen soldier from my district on November 11, 2003.

       Raheen Tyson Heighter went to the Middle East willingly, 
     sacrificed selflessly, and served proudly.
       In the two and a quarter centuries of our nation's history, 
     our country has faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But 
     in generation after generation, Americans have risen to the 
     occasion and met every challenge.
       In the 18th century, our forefathers were able to beat back 
     the greatest military superpower in the world to secure our 
     independence. In the 19th century, Americans defeated the 
     greatest injustice in the world--slavery. And in the 20th 
     century, millions of patriots, in what has come to be known 
     as America's greatest generation, defeated the greatest evil 
     the world has ever known--the Nazis.
       Raheen is part of a generation that faces a newer, but no 
     less dangerous tyranny.
       He is a child of Long Island. He went to this high school. 
     In many ways, he is very much like the hundreds of thousands 
     of other children in our community--with one remarkable 
     exception.
       Raheen was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to secure 
     the blessings of liberty for his countrymen, for our 
     children, and for America's future.
       By sacrificing himself for our way of life, Raheen, in the 
     words of his mother, ``died an American hero.''
       By fighting for a better world, Raheen, as the poet John 
     Gillespie Magee, Jr. wrote, ``slipped the surly bonds of 
     earth'' to ``touch the face of God.''
       May his name be remembered throughout history, and may he 
     serve as a source of strength and pride to American 
     generations yet unborn.

                          ____________________