[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 117 (Monday, September 19, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10176-S10178]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES
Army Captain Dennis L. Pintor
Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, on October 11, 2004, the Lima, OH,
newspaper received an e-mail that said the following:
Greetings, My name is Captain Dennis Pintor . . . I was
born and raised in Lima and lived there until I enlisted in
the Army in 1992. I am currently requesting the help of the
citizens of Lima to assist in our efforts here in Baghdad.
School here has just begun session and many of the students
need supplies . . . I tell you it makes a difference in the
kids and my soldiers. I appreciate any assistance . . . the
people of Lima can offer. Respectfully--Captain Dennis
Pintor.
Tragically, that same newspaper reported the captain's death just a
few days later. He was killed when an improvised explosive device
detonated near his patrol vehicle in Baghdad.
At the news of his death, family friend Lillian Abelita remembered
that Dennis was ``one of a kind'' and that he touched thousands of
lives. She noted that Dennis's ``last wish was for the Iraqi
children.'' ``It wasn't even for himself,'' she said. The focus of his
life had always been giving all that he had for others.
Dennis Pintor was born and raised in Lima by loving parents, Bert and
Ellen Pintor. He was the big brother whom siblings Bob, Sara, and Diana
looked up to.
Dennis attended Elida High School, where he belonged to several teams
and clubs. He played soccer and tennis, was on the yearbook staff, and
started the Red Knees Club for his fellow basketball players who didn't
get much playing time. John Hullinger, a teammate, remembered that
``Dennis was not one to complain about sitting on the bench. He made
the most of it and had fun with it.''
Dennis made the most of everything, including his academic studies.
Dennis wanted to learn. Alan Chum, a guidance counselor at Elida High
School, had Dennis in several math classes. He recalled that Dennis was
an ``inquisitive'' student who would ``bring an energy that kept the
class going.''
Teachers wanted Dennis in their classrooms. Allen emphasized that
``[Dennis] had a knack for being able to answer questions and ask good,
appropriate questions. He was just a good kid--great to have in
class.''
Dennis excelled academically and earned an appointment to the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point where he trained to be an engineer. He
graduated in 1998 and then went on to complete Army Ranger School.
Dennis quickly became a well-respected superior who was known for
putting his men first.
Dennis served as a peacekeeper in Kosovo--an assignment that suited
his desire to help those who needed it most. In 2002, Dennis was
assigned as Company Commander of Bravo Company, 20th Engineer
Battalion, based in Fort Hood, TX.
Dennis was Army through and through. One of Ellen Pintor's favorite
memories of her son is when he would visit her classroom at North
Middle School on Veterans Day. He would playfully give the kids orders
and assign platoon leaders. Dennis would order the kids to stand in
line and if they wouldn't do what he said quickly enough, he would
command: ``Drop and give me five!'' Simultaneously, Dennis would drop
to the floor and do push-ups with the kids.
While he was in the Army, Dennis was lucky enough to meet the love of
his life--Stacy--and married her in 2000. The two were meant for each
other. Stacy called her husband, ``a glimpse of heaven.'' She said that
``it was love that struck our souls. Individually we were strong, but
together we were powerful.'' They were blessed with a baby girl, whom
they named Rhea.
Being together with his wife and daughter was so very important to
Dennis. However, he also felt a great sense of duty to his fellow
soldiers and to his Nation. His unit was called for deployment to Iraq
in March 2004. Although it was difficult to leave his family, Dennis
had a job to do. While overseas, Dennis was in charge of rebuilding and
securing the safety of several schools in Baghdad. Dennis realized that
Iraqi children needed help--and they needed supplies. He enlisted the
help of those in his hometown of Lima to give what they could. As he
had so many times before, Dennis had the needs of others foremost in
his mind.
CPT Jay Wisham, a member of Dennis's unit, noted that he was not
surprised Dennis was trying to secure school supplies for the Iraqi
children. He said this about Dennis:
He was just a very good guy all the way around. He firmly
believed in what we were doing over there. All he wanted to
do was make things better for whomever's life he touched.
Indeed, Dennis touched many lives.
After his service, Dennis wanted to return to West Point as a
professor. David Garrison said this about his nephew:
[Dennis] refused to take the easy way through life. As an
officer, he was determined to receive all the tough training.
Unfortunately, America's future cadets will never have the
opportunity to learn what this West Point hero might have
taught.
Although Dennis will never teach those West Point cadets in the
classroom, he will teach them through his legacy. He will teach them
through the love he had for his family and through the lives of those
Iraqi children, who now have the opportunity to go to school.
At the memorial service following Dennis's death, his uncle David
explained that ``was loved so strongly by so many because he loved so
selflessly.'' The Reverend Henry Sattler, who married Dennis and Stacy,
noted that Dennis ``knew in the career he'd chosen that he may be asked
to lay down his life for his friends . . . and he said yes.''
CPT Dennis Pintor was a selfless man. Thanks to his efforts, more
than 30 boxes of school supplies were sent to Iraq.
Thanks to his efforts, hundreds of Iraqi children have a chance for a
better life.
Thanks to his efforts, the Iraqi people have a chance for freedom.
My wife Fran and I keep Dennis's wife and daughter and his parents
and siblings in our thoughts and in our prayers.
Army Sergeant Benjamin Biskie
Mr. President, today I remember and pay tribute to a young man from
Vermillion, OH, who gave his life for our freedom and for the freedom
of the people of Iraq.
Army Sgt Benjamin Biskie gave the ultimate sacrifice--his last true
measure of devotion--on Christmas Eve, 2003. His vehicle struck an
improvised explosive device near Samarra, Iraq. He was 27 years old.
Ben was born and raised in Arizona with his two sisters, Andrea and
Darlene. He attended Tucson Junior Academy until he moved with his
mother, Della, to Ohio in 1993. There, he graduated from Vermillion
High School one year later. Following graduation, Ben enlisted in the
Army, but not before he met his future wife, Marcie, that summer while
working at Cedar Point amusement park. The two quickly fell in love and
were married.
Although Ben was proud to serve in the U.S. Army, his crowning
achievement was the birth of his son Benjamin, Jr. Ben's Army comrades
remember how he constantly told stories about his son.
Ben trained at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, where he, Marcie, and Ben, Jr.
made their home. Ben, Sr. would eventually serve one year in South
Korea before he was sent to the Middle East.
Though Ben did not want to leave his young family, he did not
hesitate when he and the rest of the 5th Engineer Battalion, 1st
Engineer Brigade were called to serve in Iraq in April 2003. The men of
the ``Fighting Fifth'' were attached to the 4th Infantry Division and
were tasked with laying roads and bridges for the Division's
advancement. Following the successful completion of that mission, Ben
and the rest of the Battalion aided the reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
[[Page S10177]]
Ben believed in the work he was doing to rebuild the lives of Iraqi
people. Like the dreams he had for his own son, Ben knew that his work
would give hope for a promising future to so many Iraqi children--hope
that had not previously existed.
As Fort Leonard Wood Chaplain Gregory Tyree said at the memorial
service in Ben's honor:
Maybe years from now . . . a person who today is but a
child in Iraq will look back through the pages of his life
and remember a soldier in a desert-colored uniform who cared
enough to help rebuild his school and came with a box of
school supplies. And maybe, just maybe, he will offer a word
of thanks for Sergeant Ben Biskie and the gift of freedom he
died to give him.
On an Internet website honoring our Nation's fallen service men and
women, Ben Biskie's sister-in-law Ginger tried her best to express her
feelings and her gratitude. She wrote the following:
Ben--you are always on my mind. I've been thinking about
you a lot lately and everything that I wish I could say to
you. Most importantly of all is thank you. Thank you, Ben,
for fighting for our freedom. Thank you, Ben, for making my
sister so happy and for giving me the greatest nephew anyone
could ask for. Thank you, Ben, for all of the lessons you
have taught me, even if I didn't see the entirety of them
until after you were taken from us. Thank you, Ben, for
coming to visit me in my dreams on days when you know I need
you the most. You are a true hero who will never be
forgotten.
Indeed, we will always remember Benjamin Biskie. He was a devoted
husband, a doting father, and a selfless soldier, who dedicated his
life to helping people he did not know while protecting those he loved
at home. On that Christmas Eve in 2003, our Nation lost a great man.
I would like to close with the words of Ben's wife, Marcie. Knowing
how much her husband loved her and their son, she said the following:
I don't know where our lives will take us now, but I know
that wherever that may be, we'll have an angel following,
keeping an eye out for his little boy. [Ben] was a true hero.
Sgt Benjamin Biskie will live on in the hearts and minds of all those
who knew him. His family remains in our thoughts and prayers.
Marine Lance Corporal Michael J. Smith, Jr.
Mr. President, I today pay tribute to a fellow Ohioan and true
American hero. Marine LCpl Michael Smith, Jr., was killed on April 17,
2004, in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Michael was coming to the aid of his
Sergeant who had been shot. Michael was just 21 years-old.
In his brief 21 years on this earth, Michael Smith, Jr., touched
countless lives. Described as outgoing and personable, Michael's
grandmother Alice once said that her grandson could ``walk into a room
and no one was a stranger to him.'' Everyone loved him.
Michael spent his youth crossing the Ohio River between Wellsburg,
WV, where his father lived, and Wintersville, OH, where his mother
resided. Known as the ``funny little redheaded kid,'' Michael and his
cousin were partners in crime who loved to play pranks and revel in
what many called their ``offbeat sense of humor.'' Though they loved to
play tricks on people, cousin, Amy White, noted that Michael was a
``really sweet kid. He was the kind of kid who would do anything for
you.''
Michael would carry this reputation throughout his life. He attended
Brooke High School in Wellsburg, where he was a diligent student,
gifted athlete, and an active participant in school clubs--including
one tasked with discouraging fellow teens from using drugs and alcohol.
On the high school football team, Michael earned the nickname ``All-
Purpose Smitty'' because he could play any position. Michael was also a
volunteer firefighter for the Bethany Pike Fire Department in West
Virginia, which he formally joined when he was 18 years-old.
Ernestein Gorby, a guidance counselor at the high school, once
remarked that ``[Michael] was a very pleasant young man--kind of what I
would call the `solid citizen,' the person who you'd want to be your
next-door neighbor. He was reliable. He was serious about school.''
After high school, Michael wanted to take the next step and help his
country. When he was 17, he urged his mother, Marianne, to support his
decision to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. Though she was hesitant,
Marianne knew that her son would follow his own path. And so, on
February 9, 2001, Michael enlisted. Marianne instantly found it ironic
that her freckled redheaded son was stationed at sunny Twentynine
Palms, CA, with the rest of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st
Marine Division.
Michael was first deployed to Kuwait and then Iraq in January 2003,
and was part of the original advance on Baghdad. He then returned to
the United States in September 2003, to do something he had been
planning for almost a year--and that was to marry Alicia, his high
school sweetheart.
Alicia and Michael had been friends since the fifth grade. That
friendship eventually grew into a romance, and the two were married on
October 11, 2003. Alicia described her husband as an incredible man and
a wonderful father to her young daughter Elizabeth. ``He's always been
my hero,'' she said, ``[and] an amazing husband, my best friend, and a
remarkable daddy to Elizabeth.''
In February 2004, Michael was called back to Iraq. Shortly after
being redeployed, Alicia called with the news that she was pregnant.
Tragically, Michael never had the chance to meet his son, who was born
on October 16, 2004, 6 months after Michael's death. One day before he
died, Michael was able to talk to Alicia via satellite phone. Alicia
said that ``he just called to tell me he loved me with all his heart
and soul.''
Michael was loved by all those who met him. When he died, the entire
community felt the loss. As he attempted to describe his son to
reporters, Michael's dad, Michael Smith, Sr., noted that ``there's not
enough tape in the cameras or time in the world [to do that].''
The service for LCpl Michael Smith was held at Grace Lutheran Church
in Steubenville, OH--the same church where Michael was baptized,
confirmed, and married. Church members remember Michael as a moral
guide--``a man who inspired them with laughter, love, and quiet
leadership.'' Pastor Bethel Bateson recalls that on Michael's last
military leave, he walked through the church and thanked everyone for
their prayers, their letters, and their packages.
Those whom Michael thanked that day came back to the church to say
goodbye. At the service held in Michael's honor, Pastor Bateson
commented that it was the most difficult service over which she had
ever presided, ``because that beautiful red-haired boy playing under
the pews grew up to be an incredible man.'' She went to say that ``even
though he was only 21, a lot of us really looked up to him. . . . He
was so strong--physically strong--but so tender. He had a tremendous
capacity for love.''
I would like to close my remarks with the words of Marine Sgt Jason
Long, who served as Michael's squadron leader. Following Michael's
death, Sergeant Long wrote the following on an Internet tribute:
My heart goes out to Michael's family. I send my deepest
regrets. I could always count on [Michael] to get the job
done if ever I wasn't around. He was a great man and Marine
and an exceptional artist, as well. He showed great bravery
in the face of the enemy. I only wish I was there with him to
keep him out of danger. I could always count on him to give
me a laugh when times were tough. We will meet again someday,
my fellow Marine.
Mr. President, I know that Michael's fellow Marines and his family
will forever cherish the memory of their comrade, son, brother,
husband, and father. His tremendous capacity for love shaped their
lives. We will never forget him.
Luke Petrik
Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor this afternoon to pay
tribute to a remarkable young man who died in defense of freedom. Luke
Adam Petrik of Conneaut, OH, was killed on April 21, 2005, when his
helicopter was shot down a few miles north of Baghdad, Iraq. He was 24
years old.
Luke was one of those special and courageous individuals, who spent
his life defending others. At the time of his death, he was working for
a private security company to provide protection to American diplomats
in Iraq. Previously, he had served as a decorated Army Ranger, with
tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. After his work in security, Luke
had hopes of rejoining the military as a Navy SEAL. Luke knew the risks
and accepted the challenges of this life.
Born on April 1, 1981, in Ohio, Luke knew from a young age that he
wanted
[[Page S10178]]
to live a life of adventure. As a young boy, he joined the Boy Scouts.
Luke's Scout leader, and the man who would later serve as his high
school principal, John Posila, remembers Luke as ``an exceptional kid
and very, very intelligent. From the time Luke was in Scouting, he had
an interest in the military.''
In every aspect of his life, Luke sought out new experiences. His
boyhood friend, Josh Brooks, said that ``you would get a million
stories with Luke. Every time you hung out with him, there would be
some kind of story.'' Along with memorable stories, spending time with
Luke also meant that much laughter would ensue. Luke had a great sense
of humor, according to everybody who knew him. Friends contend that
there was no one who told worse jokes. He told jokes that were so bad,
according to his friends, that you couldn't help but crack up. Although
he was everything that you would expect from a future Army Ranger--
tough, disciplined, smart, and courageous--he was also riotously funny.
Throughout his time at Conneaut High School, Luke knew that he wanted
to serve in the military on the front lines. Upon graduation in 1999,
he immediately enlisted in the Army and trained to join that elite
fighting force, the Army Rangers. Given his discipline and desire, it
is no surprise that he was successful. As a paratrooper in the 3rd
Ranger Battalion, Luke joined in the hunt for Osama bin Laden in
Afghanistan.
Luke's experience with the Rangers was a perfect opportunity for him
to demonstrate his extraordinary bravery and toughness--toughness that
was legendary among his family and friends. Luke's stepfather, Eldridge
Smith, remembers a remarkable story. While parachuting for a mission,
Luke broke two bones in his foot. He was slated to be airlifted to a
medical hospital in Germany for treatment. However, just before the
plane was scheduled to leave with him, he walked away and hitchhiked
across three countries to rejoin his company. You see, Luke felt a
profound sense of duty and--broken foot or not--he would never abandon
his mission or his men.
Luke's experience in the military also revealed the way he lived his
whole life, which was by a personal code of honor. Josh Brooks
remembers his friend as a man of principle. On two separate occasions,
Luke turned down--yes, turned down--a Purple Heart, saying he didn't
deserve the award. Josh says that both that broken foot and Iraqi
shrapnel he later took in his body would qualify him for the honor. But
for Luke it was simple. Josh recalled, ``He didn't feel that he earned
[the medals]. He did things his own way.'' Luke respected the medals
and what they symbolized enough to refuse them.
After having served two tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan,
Luke left the military in late 2003. After a brief period doing
security work at a Virginia nuclear powerplant, Luke accepted an offer
in 2004 to work for Blackwater Security Consulting. Blackwater
specializes in providing security and support to the military,
Government agencies, law enforcement groups, and civilians operating in
hostile regions. Luke wanted to get back to work in Iraq, and
Blackwater would give him that opportunity.
While Luke was always full of stories, he was careful to focus on the
good he was doing. He would rather talk about the good than the danger
and destruction around him. His friend, Chuck Lawrence, had this to say
about Luke's return to Iraq: ``I talked to him just about every day. He
loved his job and had no regrets. He never regretted his decision to go
over there [to Iraq]. He was doing what he loved.''
Luke's mother, Diana Spencer, agreed, saying that ``he enjoyed his
work. He was very focused, very patriotic, and felt he was protecting
his country.''
Luke's time at Blackwater whetted his appetite for more service in
the military. He told his family in one of his last e-mails home that
he wanted to become a Navy SEAL. His stepfather said that Luke ``missed
special operations work [and that] he had a warrior's heart and had to
do what he loved.''
Tragically, though, Luke would not get the chance to become a Navy
SEAL. On April 21, 2005, he boarded a helicopter flight bound for
Tikrit. He was going there to provide security detail for American
diplomats. His helicopter was shot down by insurgents a few miles north
of Baghdad. Luke and the 10 other civilian passengers and flight crew
were killed.
A memorial service was held for Luke on Saturday, May 7, 2005, at the
First United Methodist Church in his hometown of Conneaut. Pews were
packed with mourners, from former schoolmates to friends, family, and
his fellow Rangers. Atop the casket was an American flag and a flower
arrangement reading ``Ranger.'' All those closest to Luke agreed that
this was certainly fitting.
His mother Diana tearfully recalled that a plaque that Luke received
after his discharge from the Army Rangers summed up his character. It
reads: ``To a friend, a mentor, and the living embodiment of the Ranger
creed.'' As Diana put it; ``That says everything about Luke.''
The service provided an opportunity for all of Luke's friends to
reflect on how much he meant to them and how much he had taught them
both through word and deed. Chuck Lawrence remembers his essential
decency, saying that ``anyone who came in contact with Luke was better
off for it. I never met anyone more genuine.'' Childhood friend, C.J.
Welty says that ``Luke taught me [that] there is a lot to learn, and to
do as much as you can in the short time [you have] here on Earth.''
In observance of Arbor Day, the Conneaut Tree Commission hosted a
tree planting ceremony at Malek Park Arboretum to honor local men and
women serving in Iraq. A red oak tree was planted in Luke's memory. It
serves as a symbol of life and strength. That is how Luke should be
remembered--as a vital, happy young man.
In a beautiful letter to me, Luke's stepfather Eldridge wrote that
``I am having a life celebration for Luke and the way he lived his
life, where the good memories will far outweigh the oppressive grief.''
My wife Fran and I keep all of Luke's family and friends in our
prayers. Luke Petrik will never be forgotten.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________