[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 127 (Friday, October 8, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 HONORING THE LIFE AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF SERGEANT MAJOR JAMES PETTAWAY 
                                  JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. TIMOTHY H. BISHOP

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 6, 2004

  Mr. BISHOP of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and 
contributions of my neighbor and constituent Sergeant Major James 
Pettaway, Jr. who gave his life in service to his country. SGM Pettaway 
died this week as a result of wounds he suffered in August during his 
second tour of duty in the war in Iraq. Only a few weeks after his 
deployment to Iraq, the convoy jeep he was riding in struck a roadside 
bomb outside of Fallujah. The explosion killed one man and seriously 
injured SGM Pettaway, covering 80 percent of his body with burns. After 
a long fight, he died Sunday at the Brook Medical Burn Center in San 
Antonio, Texas.
  I honor SGM Pettaway for the valiant sacrifice he made for his 
country. I also honor him for the kind of man he was. SGM Pettaway grew 
up in the army, enlisting after his high school graduation in 1988. The 
army changed him, made him stronger, gave him a sense of purpose and 
fulfillment. Because he was the kind of man he was, he wanted to give 
back some of what he had been given. He wanted to pass along the life 
lessons he had learned to others. His supervisor said the army 
``changed him from a scatterbrained kid to a caring man.''
  After 10 years of active duty, James Pettaway, this caring man and 
father of an 11-year-old son Brandon, joined a guard unit at the Herman 
Toulson Correctional Camp in Maryland. He was part of an 88-member 
guard contingent at the boot camp that houses adult felons. Because he 
was a caring man, SGM Pettaway took a genuine interest in the inmates' 
lives and tried to help them benefit from the things he learned in the 
army. He volunteered for extra duty, took a special interest in their 
accomplishments and tried to help them lead better lives.
  In 2002, SGM Pettaway's reserve unit, the 223rd Transportation 
Company of Morristown, PA, was called to active duty. He served a year 
in Kuwait before returning to the United States. Then in May his 
reserve unit was called again to active duty. This time, his family and 
friends say, the 37-year-old sergeant did not have a positive feeling 
about returning to war. But he dutifully answered his country's call 
one more time. He would not live to see his hometown of Southampton, 
New York again.
  Several of SGM Pettaway's cousins attended Southampton public schools 
and played on sports teams with my children. His Uncle works with my 
brother in the landscaping business. His son Brandon played on a Little 
League team last season with my friend's son. We all mourn his death. 
He is the first U.S. service member from our town to be killed in the 
Iraq war.
  We cannot ask more of a man than we did of SGM Pettaway. He gave his 
all. Iraq forced him to learn some of life's most difficult lessons. I 
honor him for his bravery, his goodness, his service to others, and for 
the sacrifice he made for his country. I honor his son Brandon, and I 
pray that the lessons his father learned will not have been learned in 
vain but will be carried on in the lives of his family and friends.

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