[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 16, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H545-H546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SPECIALIST RYAN BERG--TEXAS SOLDIER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday, January 10, 2007, the flag flew 
at half mast in the small coastal town of Sabine Pass, Texas. The 
neighbors had learned of the sacrifice of their hometown son, 
Specialist Ryan Berg, who was 19. He was fighting the war in the land 
of Iraq.
  Army Specialist Ryan Berg was an American soldier. When others his 
age were talking about going to college or working in the nearby 
refineries, Ryan went to the local Army recruiter's office on his 18th 
birthday and joined the United States Army, knowing America was at war 
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  He was proud to be an American, and Ryan chose to serve his Nation. 
He wanted to make a difference by being an American soldier. Ryan Berg 
had spent his entire life in Sabine Pass, Texas, and he knew everybody 
in town. Ryan always planned on returning to his home to live and raise 
a family after he finished his duty with the United States Army and for 
America.
  Like his mother and his father, Ryan attended and graduated from 
Sabine Pass School. The Sabine Pass School has all the grades in just 
one building. Ryan played football, basketball, and golf. Childhood 
friends of Ryan knew him as an outgoing and friendly guy. One of his 
friends said, ``There wasn't anything or anyone he didn't like, and 
everybody liked him.'' He was a gentleman who always helped others who 
needed it in Sabine Pass.
  Ryan knew his calling after high school was to join the United States 
Army. He simply wanted to protect his country, like he had protected 
those he knew and loved all his life. He was stationed in Fort Hood, 
Texas. Ryan met his wife, Katy, in September of 2006, just a few months 
ago. The young newly wed couple soon received the news that Ryan, like 
so many others before him, would be sent to the desert sands of Iraq.
  He was deployed to Iraq on October 4, 2006, and he was assigned to 
the 1st Battalion, 12th Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade, Alpha Section, 
3rd Platoon.

[[Page H546]]

  Ryan called home weekly, but the thunder of battle sometimes forced 
him to quickly end those phone calls. As the 2006 Christmas season 
approached, Ryan was given last-minute leave to spend the holidays at 
home in Texas with his family and his neighbors in Sabine Pass.
  During Christmas, Scottie, Ryan's mother, held her son tightly and 
told him that she was not going to let him go back to Iraq. Ryan 
replied, Mr. Speaker, ``I've got to go back over there. I've got to 
make it safe for my wife, my mom, my dad, and all those I love.''
  Mr. Speaker, amazing people, these Americans who go to war. On 
January 4, 2007 with nearly a year to go in Iraq, the teenager returned 
to the battlefront to fight against these insurgents and their terror 
against the people of Iraq. Ryan was only in Iraq for 5 days when he 
was shot by a hidden enemy sniper. The wound was fatal.
  Last week, 19-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Ryan Berg became the 
first son of Sabine Pass, Texas, to be killed defending freedom in that 
land far, far away, of Iraq. For his courage during combat, Ryan was 
awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
  The news of his death at the hands of the anarchists stunned the Berg 
family and the people of Sabine Pass. Through their tears, Ryan's 
mother and father, Scottie and Travis; his brother Brad, his sister 
Marissa, and his new wife, Katie, and countless other relatives and 
friends have, in their anguish, honored the American warrior.
  Ryan's loved ones expressed their pride of his service to America and 
the bravery their soldier exhibited throughout his career. They also 
asked for the community to pray not only for Ryan but for those 
soldiers still amid the dusty trenches fighting for freedom and 
securing liberty.
  Those who knew Ryan, and I have a photograph of him, Mr. Speaker, 
those who knew him, remember his loyalty to his family and to his 
friends, but not only as a man who never knew a stranger, but Ryan 
devoted his life to guarding them from danger, those especially who 
could not stand up for themselves.
  This Nation owes its gratitude, its liberties, its freedom, to people 
like Specialist Ryan Berg and to brave soldiers who have walked the 
path of sacrifice for the rest of us.
  So God bless Sabine Pass, Texas and God bless the Berg family and God 
Bless Ryan Berg.
  It has been said that when the Roving Legions went into battle one of 
their generals once told his men, ``How you yet live will echo 
throughout eternity.''
  Ryan, your deeds will always speak the example of the spirit of the 
American soldier.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________