[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2724-S2725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                       sergeant daniel w. wallace

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise because our country has lost a 
true patriot. SGT Daniel W. Wallace of Dry Ridge, KY, was tragically 
killed by enemy fire while serving his country in Afghanistan on 
October 31, 2008. He was 27 years old.
  A member of the Kentucky Army National Guard since 2006, Sergeant 
Wallace was on his first deployment. For his valor in uniform, he 
received several medals, awards and decorations, including the Bronze 
Star Medal and the Purple Heart.
  ``Sergeant Daniel Wallace was a true patriot,'' says Kentucky 
National Guard Adjutant GEN Edward W. Tonini. He ``stood up and 
answered the call to serve his Nation in a time of need.''
  Sergeant's Wallace's mother, Karen Wallace, says the same thing, but 
in a way only a mother could.
  ``Danny's my fallen hero,'' she says.
  Daniel's family lived in the town of Latonia in the northern Kentucky 
suburbs of Cincinnati, when he was young. When he was about 9 years 
old, they moved to Dry Ridge in Grant County. They moved because Karen 
and Daniel's father, Kenneth, wanted to trade in life in the city for 
the country. But Daniel didn't take it so well.
  ``He didn't like the move . . . because of his friends being in 
Latonia,'' Karen remembers. ``He was always bored in the country, 
complaining about how there was nothing to do.''
  It would come as no surprise, however, if I told you that Daniel, 
like any young boy, found plenty of things to do. He liked to fish, 
camp and watch and play sports like baseball, basketball and football. 
And with three brothers and a sister, there were plenty of people to do 
things with.
  ``He loved camping,'' says Karen. ``We'd get so tickled because he 
and [his brother] Alex would bet on who could make the first fire, [or] 
the biggest fire.''
  Karen did set some limits for her son, however.
  ``He always wanted to go hunting but we never did that,'' she says. 
And ``he got mad at me for not letting him play football because he was 
so skinny.''
  Daniel started attending Crittenden-Mt. Zion Elementary School, and 
when he was in third grade, Karen started working there. ``I was able 
to watch him as he was adjusting to a new school,'' she recalls. ``The 
teachers liked him. . . . He was very computer knowledgeable [and] . . 
. the teachers would have him fix computers.''
  Daniel's father, Kenneth, recalls how his son was quick to look out 
for others.
  ``He always felt he had to protect the other kids,'' Kenneth says. 
``He wanted

[[Page S2725]]

to know who did it if something happened.'' Karen recalls a few times 
when Daniel came to the defense of his brother Alex when he was teased 
by other boys.
  Like the rest of his family, Daniel was also very committed to his 
church. One way they all contributed together was as a gospel band, the 
Wallace Family Band. Mom and dad sang. Their sons Charles and Brian 
played the guitar, Alex played the drums, and Daniel played bass 
guitar. The whole family got into the act.
  After high school, Daniel went on to National College in Florence, 
where he took business classes. He was studying to be an accountant. 
``Danny liked numbers and he enjoyed math,'' says Karen.
  In high school and college he had a couple of jobs, working at a car 
dealership and as an apprentice with a steel manufacturer. But just as 
his family raised him to serve others through his work at church, 
Daniel felt moved to serve his country through military service.
  ``He liked the Army one hundred percent,'' his mother Karen says. 
``You couldn't have budged him out of that. . . . I've never seen him 
happier in all my life than after he joined the National Guard.''
  In the Guard, Daniel trained to be a combat engineer. His dad recalls 
that after his training, he was named the 218th Regiment Honor 
Graduate. Part of his training included learning how to deactivate 
explosive devices--his mother Karen recalls that ``on his evaluation, 
it said Danny likes to blow up things.''
  Daniel also inspired his brother Alex to join the National Guard, and 
Alex became a medic.
  ``I'm proud of my brother,'' Alex says. ``I'm going to keep carrying 
on. I know he wants me to serve my full time, which is what I'm going 
to do.''
  Daniel joined the 201st Engineer Battalion of the Kentucky Army 
National Guard, based out of Cynthiana, and was deployed to 
Afghanistan. He wrote his mother letters telling of his experiences, 
especially of his work to renovate the chapel for the soldiers on base.
  ``Danny made a library [in the chapel],'' Karen recalls. ``We'd send 
him books for the library and Danny read all of them. They were redoing 
the chapel outside and inside . . . he was always working in the 
chapel.''
  Daniel's family shipped him his bass guitar, and he formed a band 
with his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan. Karen recalls how, before his 
posting in Afghanistan, Daniel had played with the Wallace Family Band 
one last time.
  ``Danny came in for 15 days of R&R, [and] we got one booking in the 
church,'' she says. ``Everybody was there . . . daughter-in-law, the 
boys, everybody. God has blessed us with our family. I've always told 
people that.''
  The members of Daniel's loving family are in our prayers today as I 
share with my colleagues just some of Daniel's story. We are thinking 
of his son, Cody George Mardis; his daughter, Abigail Rose Wallace; his 
parents, Kenneth and Karen; his brother Charles, Charles's wife Robin 
and their children; his brother Brian, Brian's wife Jennifer and their 
children; his brother Alex; his sister Kim; his grandfather, Arvis 
Sinclair; and many other beloved friends and family members.
  Daniel once asked his mother to write more letters--not to him, but 
to other soldiers who didn't have moms like her writing to their sons 
and daughters in a war zone. After Daniel's death, Karen heard from her 
son's fellow soldiers about how Daniel carried himself, even in the 
face of great danger.
  ``The letters I've received from the guys shows me Danny was true to 
God. He had a true mission over there,'' Karen says. He'd always say, 
`Mom, don't worry--God's watching over me.' ''
  Nothing could ever take away the pain of this family's loss. But I 
hope Daniel's loved ones know there is one other thing they should 
never worry about: that our Nation could ever forget Daniel's great 
sacrifice.
  And this U.S. Senate will forever honor Sergeant Daniel W. Wallace 
for his service to country.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senator from Iowa is recognized.

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