[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 35 (Thursday, March 11, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S1416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                 Lance Corporal Jonathan B. Thornsberry

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
young man from McDowell, KY, who bravely served his country. LCpl 
Jonathan B. Thornsberry was tragically killed during combat operations 
in Iraq back on October 25, 2006. He was 22 years old. He left behind a 
family and friends who love him and remember that today, March 11, is 
his birthday.
  For his heroic service with the U.S. Marines, Lance Corporal 
Thornsberry received several medals, awards, and decorations, including 
the National Defense Service Medal and the Purple Heart.
  The man called ``Jon-Jon'' by family and friends was following a 
family tradition when he elected to wear America's uniform. His 
brother, father, and grandfather all served in the military.
  ``It was just something he wanted to do,'' Jonathan's brother Jeff 
recalls of why Jonathan signed up. ``It was a decision he made.'' 
Jonathan's parents, Jackie and Judy, remember their son saying, ``We 
have to go over there. If we don't go over there, they will be here.''
  Jonathan grew up in Floyd County where he attended McDowell 
Elementary School and South Floyd High School. He played catcher on his 
high school baseball team. Everybody remembers how good he was, and 
South Floyd High has retired his old No. 13 in his memory.
  The name of the McDowell Elementary School's sports team is the 
Daredevils. Jonathan certainly fit that description growing up, as he 
liked to play in the mountains, go four-wheeling, and go hunting. This 
is not to say he did not have any sense of responsibility.

  Once when he was just 4 or 5 years old, Jonathan and his father were 
hunting when they climbed too high on a mountain. ``We need to go down. 
Mommy will be worried about us,'' Jonathan said.
  Jonathan was very close to his father, and the two of them worked 
together in the coal mines before Jonathan joined the Marines. Jonathan 
was also a father himself. He and his wife Toni Renee have a daughter, 
Haylee Jo. Haylee Jo recently turned 5 years old, and she likes to tell 
people she has her daddy's green eyes.
  Jonathan was also close to his aunt, Edia Hamilton, better known in 
the family as Aunt Edia Girl. She would always buy candy for her 
favorite nephew even though she was on a fixed income.
  Jonathan graduated from South Floyd High School in 2002, and after 
working alongside his father in the coal mines enlisted in the Marines 
in January 2004. He was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve's 3rd 
Battalion, 24th Regiment, 4th Marine Division, based out of Johnson 
City, TN.
  After training in California, Jonathan was deployed in support of 
Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006. His family recalls he left California 
on September 26, and just 1 month later his life was tragically lost.
  A few days before his death, Jonathan called his mother Judy to wish 
her a happy birthday, but she was at the grocery store and missed his 
call. Jonathan did get to talk to his wife Toni. Toni and Judy talked 
later, and Judy remembers they shared an uneasy feeling.
  ``I could feel God all around me that morning and I should have known 
something,'' Judy says. ``I [could] feel God protecting me from the 
harshness of this.'' Later that day they received the horrible news.
  Funeral services were held at the Little Rosa Church in McDowell, 
where Jonathan's two favorite songs, ``The Old Ship of Zion'' and 
``Amazing Grace,'' were played. Tributes to him were held in Frankfort 
and back at South Floyd High School.
  Today, on Jonathan's birthday, Madam President, our thoughts are with 
the many loved ones he has left behind. We are thinking of his wife 
Toni Renee; his daughter Haylee Jo; his parents Jackie and Judy; his 
brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Angela; his grandmother, Alice 
Moore Lawson; his nephews, Thomas and Jack; his nieces, Evelyn Grace 
and Julia Ann; his aunt, Edia Hamilton; and many more family members 
and friends.
  One year after Jonathan's death, his family, friends, and fellow 
marines gathered to remember him at a service in Pikeville City Park. 
Friends recalled him as the ``type of guy who would give you the shirt 
off his back.'' Another remembered the last time he saw Jonathan and 
what they talked about.
  His wife Toni talked about how much she had lost. ``We loved each 
other from the moment we laid eyes on each other,'' she said. Then she 
read a poem that got across how her husband was a man who did not ask 
for much.
  ``If you have a place for me, Lord, it needn't be so grand,'' she 
read.
  A place of honor will be kept in the Senate for LCpl Jonathan B. 
Thornsberry, who sacrificed everything for his country. Today, on his 
birthday, I know my colleagues will join me in paying tribute to his 
service.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.

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