[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 9, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING THE LIFE OF FIRST LIEUTENANT JOSEPH THEINERT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. TIMOTHY H. BISHOP

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 9, 2010

  Mr. BISHOP of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today humbly and with 
profound sadness to mark the death of Army First Lieutenant Joseph 
Theinert, who was killed in action in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on 
June 4th.
  A resident of Sag Harbor, in my Congressional district, Lt. Theinert 
graduated from Shelter Island High School in 2004. He distinguished 
himself in athletics, was Student Council president and was crowned 
king of his senior prom.
  Deeply affected by the September 11th attacks, Lt. Theinert earned a 
BA degree from the University of Albany in 2008 and was commissioned a 
second lieutenant in May 2008 through the Siena College Reserve Officer 
Training Corps program. He had been deployed for one month in 
Afghanistan, attached to 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st 
Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.
  Lt. Theinert was leading his platoon on a mission in Kandahar 
Province when they came under hostile fire and were forced toward an 
area mined with IEDs, according to his commanding officer. He disabled 
one IED and started to disarm a second one when the trigger mechanism 
sounded; however, he was able to warn the twenty men under his command 
to get back before the device exploded. Lt. Theinert was the only 
soldier killed in the incident, and his final heroic and selfless act 
fulfilled the responsibility of an officer to keep his men safe and in 
the fight.
  I offer my deepest condolences to Lt. Theinert's mother and 
stepfather, Chrystyna and Frank Kestler of Mattituck and Shelter 
Island; and to his father and stepmother, James and Cathy Theinert of 
Sag Harbor. I also join these closely-knit Peconic Bay communities in 
mourning the loss of a young citizen of enormous potential, and note 
with a heavy heart that two sons of the small village of Sag Harbor 
have made the supreme sacrifice since September 11th.
  Madam Speaker, among Lt. Theinert's possessions, his family found a 
memory book entitled: ``My Life by Joseph Theinert.'' I read the noble 
sentiments he inscribed on its inside cover into the Record of this 
House, in the hope that others may draw inspiration from them, as I 
have:

     The years of our youth that we will never forget.
     When life was simple and all we knew was love.

     The people in this book is why I choose to fight.
     It is for them that I am willing to lay down my life.

     There is nothing glorious about war, but I will go to it to 
           keep the people I love away from it.

     9/11, Never Forget.

                          ____________________