[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 77 (Tuesday, May 19, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H5715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING ARMY SPECIALIST JEREMIAH P. McCLEERY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with the sad duty of 
recognizing the death in combat of Army Specialist Jeremiah P. 
McCleery, age 24, of Portola, California.
  Mr. Speaker, if you read the observations of his friends, you very 
quickly realize this was not only an irreplaceable loss to his family 
and a monumental loss to his community, but it was also a terrible loss 
for our country.
  Miah, as he was known, was simply a good kid. He made friends easily, 
he had a great sense of humor, and he had wanted to join the Army since 
he was 4 years old. He was an exemplary soldier who commanded the 
friendship and respect of his colleagues. He had fallen in love with a 
girl at Fort Hood before he shipped out, with their whole lives ahead 
of them.
  A friend of his, Josh Rodgers, was asked when Miah McCleery was 
happiest, and the answer was, ``doing anything with his dad.'' They had 
lost his mother, Collette, to cancer a few years ago. His father, Joe, 
worked at a refuse collection company and later at a sheet metal 
business, and Miah was often at his side.
  That same friend was asked why Jeremiah had enlisted. The response, 
``he always wanted to when he was a kid. He probably just wanted to out 
of patriotic duty to go serve. And I think he wanted to go do his 
part.''
  The question first asked by Jim Michener thunders across the 
countryside with a loss like this: ``Where do we get such men?'' Mr. 
Speaker, I don't know how to offer condolences to Miah McCleery's 
family, to his father, Joe, to his sisters, Lynette and Chastity, and 
to his grandparents and many friends. The loss they bear is beyond my 
comprehension.
  I can only offer my awe and gratitude that humanity has within itself 
a small band of brothers like Jeremiah McCleery who stepped forward not 
for treasure or profit nor even to defend their own freedom. But 
rather, to win the freedom of a people half a world away. And they do 
it because their country asks and because it is virtuous and noble.
  A few feet from here in the Capitol Rotunda is a fresco called the 
``Apotheosis of Washington.'' It depicts General Washington, in 
uniform, ascending to the heavens, flanked by victory and freedom, and 
surrounded by the essence and fruits of a free Nation. And in that 
depiction, Washington beckons.
  From little towns like Portola, California, decent young men and 
women with promising futures, like Jeremiah McCleery, have answered. 
And I don't know where we get such men, and I don't know how their 
families can bear it. But I do know what we owe them. And I do know 
that we can never repay that debt, except to honor their memory and 
keep their sacrifice always in mind, those who gave up everything ``to 
proclaim liberty throughout all the land, and unto all the inhabitants 
thereof.''

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