[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 177 (Thursday, November 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HONORING LIEUTENANT COMMANDER ERIK SAMSEL KRISTENSEN, USN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE SESTAK

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 15, 2007

  Mr. SESTAK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge an important 
and emotional ceremony that will take place at the United States Naval 
Academy's Hubbard Hall on this Saturday, November 17, 2007.
  Hubbard Hall is home to Navy's crew teams, and there, a rowing shell 
will be dedicated in memory of an extraordinary graduate of the USNA 
Class of 1995, LCDR Erik Samsel Kristensen. While leading a rescue 
effort in support of U.S. Navy SEALS under heavy enemy fire, Lieutenant 
Commander Kristensen was killed in action in Asadabad, Afghanistan on 
June 28, 2005. In that engagement, our Nation, our Navy, and the 
Kristensen family lost a young warrior son who exemplified the honor, 
courage and commitment that is the very soul of our Navy and the Naval 
Academy. In the time since Lieutenant Commander Kristensen's sacrifice, 
he has been accorded honors richly deserved. However, in organizing the 
effort to name a racing shell in his memory, his classmate and 
shipmate, Mr. Brooks McFeely, found a unique and lasting medium to 
communicate the courage, determination and selflessness that 
characterized his great friend's life.
  Over the years Hubbard Hall has been a crucible of leadership 
development under the guidance of coaching legends including Rusty 
Callow, Carl Ullrich, and Rick Clothier. Home to Olympians, scholars, 
and most importantly, warriors, Hubbard Hall has a rich tradition of 
honing the work ethic, competitive spirit and teamwork essential to 
victory in peace and war.
  Madam Speaker, it is essential that we honor Lieutenant Commander 
Erik Kristensen, a leader who epitomized the Navy rower as described by 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
  ``Is life less than a boat race? If a man will give the blood in his 
body to win the one, will he spend all the might of his soul to prevail 
in the other?''
  To the men and women at Hubbard Hall who follow the example of LCDR 
Erik Kristensen, that will always be a rhetorical question. In honor of 
a great man and his family, the people of the United States of America 
wish Godspeed and great victories to the shell `Kristensen' and the 
midshipmen fortunate to row in that testament to honor and courage.

                          ____________________