[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 25, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       COMMENDING AN AMERICAN WAR HERO FROM INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I 
rise today to recognize an extraordinary young man who is an American 
war hero of Iraq and a fellow Hoosier, Specialist Dwayne Anthony Turner 
of the Third Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne 
Division. Specialist Dwayne Anthony Turner, an Army medic from 
Indianapolis, was awarded the Silver Star for demonstrating exceptional 
bravery, self-sacrifice and resolute fearlessness during a grenade and 
arms attack on April 13, 2003.
  American soldiers were caught off guard when the attack began on a 
crowded street 30 miles south of Baghdad. Specialist Dwayne Anthony 
Turner was riding in his Humvee when the grenade hit. Bleeding from 
flying shrapnel that ripped into his legs, Specialist Turner dragged 
several soldiers to safety and administered aid to others while taking 
fire. More commonly known as Doc Turner, this young 23-year-old soldier 
saved the lives of two comrades and provided aid to 14 others after he 
was hit by shrapnel and shot a total of three times in the leg and arm. 
He did not cease assisting injured soldiers until he lost a significant 
amount of blood and was administered morphine. Specialist Dwayne 
Anthony Turner is the first soldier from the Fort Campbell-based 101st 
to receive the Silver Star for valor.
  I would like to recognize Specialist Turner for his remarkable 
fortitude, courageousness, his spirit and selfless determination and 
would certainly ask the House of Representatives to join me in honoring 
this notable American war hero from my district.
  Specialist Turner agreed to 4 years but was arbitrarily extended, Mr. 
Speaker, to 5 years.
  Mr. Speaker, we would think that the United States of America, that 
the White House, that the Department of the Army would give Specialist 
Turner a standing ovation for the outstanding contribution that he made 
as an American, as a soldier and as a hero in Iraq. But not so. Mr. 
Speaker, upon Specialist Turner's return to Fort Campbell, 
understandably he consumed alcohol excessively, incurred intense and 
immense emotional trauma. His behavior became erratic. Instead of 
addressing what obviously is post-traumatic stress, the Army busted him 
down to a private, kicked him out of service, did not give him 
mustering-out pay, which ultimately caused this dear Army soldier to 
become homeless, notwithstanding the kind of contributions that he has 
made to a better America and what we were believing to be a better 
Iraq.

                              {time}  1645

  I would like specifically to call this incredible, awful situation in 
terms of Specialist Turner's fate, in private, now nothing, the Army 
soldier, used to be soldier, to the attention of the White House. We 
often say that we support our troops. We get criticized when we do not 
support Iraq and the money that goes into Iraq, and I would ask the 
President and all of his soldiers there on Pennsylvania Avenue and 
those who are responsible for this incredible inhumane act against an 
individual who has done so much for this country to counteract, to 
reverse the vicious act that has been administered against him since he 
has been in this country by the United States Government. Make him 
whole, give him his mustering-out pay, and let the record show that he 
was, in fact, a specialist and not a private, a specialist when he 
received the honors that he received from the Army.

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