[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 54 (Monday, April 16, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2321-S2322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO LANCE CORPORAL DAVID MAYS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I stand before you today to commend and 
pay tribute to a Kentuckian who spent time with the Marines serving in 
Afghanistan in 2009. Although he was far from home and a visitor in a 
foreign land, LCpl David Mays of London, KY, treated the Afghan people 
with the utmost respect, proving that he exemplified the 
characteristics the U.S. Marine Corps upholds: character, compassion, 
honor, courage, and the integrity to always do what is right. Lance 
Corporal Mays enlisted during his senior year of high school at the age 
of 18.
  In May of 2009, just 2 days before his second deployment with the 
Marines, David's firstborn son, Landon, came into the world. David left 
for Afghanistan before his newborn son was able to leave the hospital 
in London. Although David was greatly saddened about having to leave 
his baby boy behind, he proudly answered the call of duty, and for the 
second time David returned to the Middle East. However, this time 
around, David was a different man: he was a father now. Fatherhood 
caused him to take an interest in the local Afghan children. David felt 
that interacting with the children helped him to not miss his own son 
as much.
  David missed his boy back home terribly, but he would play with the 
Afghan children and buy them gifts. In turn, the children would offer 
David and his fellow marines fruit as a token of their gratitude. The 
kinship David and his men built with the local children was the 
foundation of a successful relationship with the local Afghan tribe 
leaders.
  During his time overseas, David had limited contact with his family 
in Kentucky, but his mother, Wanda Caudill, sent letters and care 
packages as frequently as possible. She would also send photos of 
Landon. The gifts from home and the relationships David made with the 
local people, local children, and fellow marines all helped to console 
him until he finally returned home just before Christmas in 2010.
  It had been almost a year since David had seen his son Landon, who 
was only 2 days old at their last meeting, There was no way that the 
little boy could have remembered his father's presence. But when David 
first saw his son Landon at the airport that December, Landon reached 
for him as if he had never left and kissed him three times.
  David has since joined the London-Laurel County Rescue Squad and 
London Fire Department. He is still in the Marines Active Reserve, but 
he plans to stay as involved as he can in his 2-year-old son's life. 
David decided that missing 1 year of his son's life is enough, and he 
is not missing any more.
  Mr. President, an article appeared in the Laurel County publication 
the Sentinel-Echo: Silver Edition in November 2011 that profiled the 
upstanding character of LCpl David Mays. I ask unanimous consent that 
said article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record as follows:

                  [From the Sentinel Echo, Nov. 2011]

                      Finding Family Far From Home

                          (By Magen McCrarey)

       He left his first-born son, Landon, at the hospital in May 
     of 2009, born two days before his second deployment. David 
     Mays, a lance corporal of the 1st Battalion, Fifth Marines, 
     hoped to take Landon home for a warm welcome; instead he 
     arrived in Afghanistan with one of his own.
       ``As we landed we heard bullets ricocheting off the 
     helicopter,'' Mays said. ``We were there, and there was no 
     turning back.''
       The sweltering desert heat was in excess of 115 degrees as 
     Mays and his squad walked three days with more than 100 
     pounds strapped to their backs heading towards Helmand 
     Province. Their compound was far off from any city and water 
     was limited.
       With a shovel-like tool in hand, Mays began digging a hole 
     for his bed and covered it with a tarp.
       ``Everybody dug their own hole, scattered, in case we got 
     attacked by mortars,'' Mays said. ``I told my buddy if we're 
     worried about mortars, we dug our graves right here so it 
     don't matter.''
       Mays always wanted to be a Marine. When Mays was in fourth 
     grade at Cold Hill Elementary, his class received a visit 
     from a U.S. Marine, a pilot shot down behind enemy lines and 
     a Kentucky native. The Marine's recollection of brotherhood 
     and camaraderie influenced Mays in more ways than just 
     portraying an intriguing narrative.
       ``It was like a family away from your own family, and I'd 
     get to see the world and meet people,'' Mays said.
       He and a group of friends enlisted in the Marines their 
     senior year of high school at 18 years old. They knew they 
     may not be placed in the same company throughout their 
     service, but they all had the same objective.
       ``We all had one thing on our minds: to become Marines 
     together,'' Mays said.
       The objective of the Marines within the Helmand Province 
     was to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans. With the 
     British recently vacating the country, Afghans were 
     apprehensive about the Marines' arrival.
       Tribe leaders would only converse with Marine commanders. 
     They'd offer tips about the Taliban's whereabouts and when 
     they were arriving in the area. The Taliban had a reputation 
     for entering into towns at night.
       Mays and his squad of four would respond to the information 
     given and perform night operations to keep watch over a town. 
     Walking 20 miles and back again to keep watch for suspicious 
     travelers was a frequent and meticulous task.
       ``We did what we had to do. We were doing our job 
     protecting each other,'' Mays said, ``just like anybody 
     around here will protect their family.''
       Contact with family via satellite while in Afghanistan was 
     few and far between, but they received mail often. Mays's 
     mother, Wanda Caudill, sent a letter every chance she got, 
     and many care packages.
       ``She sent me newspapers and I knew exactly what was going 
     on in London,'' he said.
       Caudill also sent photos of Mays's son so he wouldn't feel 
     as if he was missing out on his child's life. Away from his 
     own child, Mays often thought about the children in 
     Afghanistan.
       ``We'd give the kids rides on our shoulders, and we'd buy 
     them stuff,'' Mays said.
       The Afghan boys would offer fruit to the Marines and even 
     allowed them to participate in their Muslim holiday of 
     Ramadan. As the sun set, the day of fasting would cease and 
     they would enter in an evening feast. They had offered a goat 
     for slaughter to the men, and taught them how to give it a 
     death without suffering.
       ``I think it made me think about when my son was going to 
     get that age, and didn't make me miss him as much. But, of 
     course, I missed him because he was my boy,'' Mays said.
       After days of patrolling a foreign country, battling an 
     unseen enemy, and losing men that were a part of his family 
     away from home, Mays returned to his own. Days before 
     Christmas 2010, Mays arrived at the Louisville airport 
     greeting his family with one gripping hug after another, 
     saving his son for last.
       ``I was scared he was going to cry and not recognize me,'' 
     Mays said.
       But Landon came right to him as if he never missed a beat. 
     He reached for Mays and kissed him three times.
       ``My mom started crying and said, `He never kissed nobody,' 
     Mays recalled. ``It was like I was gone only a minute or 
     so.''
       After returning from deployment, Mays has learned to 
     appreciate the small things in life and take advantage of 
     every opportunity to serve the public, he said. He's joined 
     the London-Laurel County Rescue Squad and London Fire 
     Department. Mays has completed four years of active duty in 
     the Marines and is currently in the four-year active

[[Page S2322]]

     reserve program. He said if he didn't have his son before he 
     began active duty, he would have made a career out of the 
     Marines.
       ``I decided one year's enough,'' Mays said. ``I'm not 
     missing any more of his life.'' Landon is now two years old.

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