[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 140 (Monday, November 17, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H8006-H8007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   LT. DANIEL P. RIORDAN POST OFFICE

  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 5386) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 11662 Gravois Road in St. Louis, Missouri, as the 
``Lt. Daniel P. Riordan Post Office''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5386

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. LT. DANIEL P. RIORDAN POST OFFICE.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 11662 Gravois Road in St. Louis, Missouri, 
     shall be known and designated as the ``Lt. Daniel P. Riordan 
     Post Office''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Lt. Daniel P. Riordan Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Issa) and the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, this bill, authored by Congresswoman Ann 
Wagner of Missouri, recognizes the last full measure of support for 
Lieutenant Daniel P. Riordan, and I can add nothing more than the 
author will add, so I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner).
  Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in honor of a great hero.
  On June 23, 2007, Missouri's Second Congressional District lost a 
brave young man when United States Army First Lieutenant Daniel Riordan 
made the ultimate sacrifice for his country while serving in Operation 
Iraqi Freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the life of 
this young patriot. Daniel Patrick Riordan was born to Rick and Jeanine 
Riordan on February 17, 1983. He had a twin brother, Nick, and an older 
sister, Suzanne.

[[Page H8007]]

  After graduating from St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood, 
Missouri, Dan attended Southeast Missouri State where he was in the Air 
Force ROTC program. After graduation, Dan decided to follow his father 
into the military and joined the U.S. Army, quickly becoming known as 
``Lieutenant Dan.''
  Lieutenant Dan became a tank commander, and in 2006, he was deployed 
to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a member of Demon 
Company in the First Cavalry Division, Dan served with courage and 
determination. Despite frequently being outnumbered in enemy territory, 
Dan was always out on point, leading his platoon into battle. Dan took 
his leadership responsibilities literally. As he put it, ``How can I 
order my men forward if I'm not willing to go first?''
  To those who knew Dan, his devotion to his country through service 
and sacrifice came as no surprise. He was both a fierce and dedicated 
warrior in the service of our country and a caring and loving gentleman 
who felt a duty to help those in need.
  From a very young age, Dan showed sensitivity beyond his years. At 
the age of 5 or 6, while attending a funeral, Dan's mom found him 
sitting with an elderly woman. When she asked him why he was sitting 
with her, he said, ``She looked sad and lonely.'' It was this kind of 
compassion that drew him to the U.S. military, his desire to serve, 
help, and protect those in need.
  While at home on leave from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Dan consistently 
reassured his family that our country's military efforts were truly 
bringing empowerment and freedom to the people of Iraq. He believed in 
a cause greater than himself, that of freedom, democracy, and the 
dignity of all people.
  While in the Army, Dan wrote his mother a letter in case he didn't 
return. One thing he said was, ``Don't mourn for me, mom. Celebrate my 
life.'' So today, we celebrate First Lieutenant Daniel P. Riordan's 
life by designating the Sappington Branch Post Office in St. Louis, 
Missouri, as the Lt. Daniel P. Riordan Post Office.
  The United States of America owes Dan a priceless debt that we will 
never be able to fully repay, but we can do our part to ensure that his 
memory lives on; therefore, it is my honor to sponsor H.R. 5386, a bill 
that names the Sappington Branch Post Office in Missouri's Second 
Congressional District after such a courageous young man, immortalizing 
a hero who gave up his life in service to the Nation that he loved.
  Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I want to thank the gentlelady for her eloquent description of a 
brave and strong person and a life well-lived, and I am touched by 
seeing that photograph of the young, strong, healthy, vibrant man who 
meant so much to his family, as he did to his country, and your story 
about him as a 5-year-old boy, I found quite touching.
  There was just something in him that probably did come from his 
family that made him, even without knowing why, want to serve, and you 
can just imagine that that carried forward not only to people in his 
community and family but to the people of Iraq.
  I also was reading about how his original objective in the military 
was to serve as a pilot. We don't know what the story was as to how he 
ended up in a tank, but what you know about that story is that his 
fundamental goal was to serve. How he served was secondary.

                              {time}  1445

  He was in a tank, which, as we all know, was one of the most 
dangerous places any of our men and women in service could be during 
the war in Iraq.
  So I want to thank the gentlewoman for a very inspiring and eloquent 
statement about a life well lived, about a man who gave his life on 
behalf of all of us in the United States of America.
  Mrs. WAGNER. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. WELCH. I yield to the gentlewoman from Missouri.
  Mrs. WAGNER. I would like to say that I have had the great pleasure 
and honor of sponsoring several of these post office namings for our 
fallen heroes, and I have to say it is one of the most moving, 
touching, and important things that we can do, I think, for our entire 
community and certainly for the families. So it is a great privilege 
and honor for me to support the Riordan family today, and I thank the 
gentleman for his kind words and the chairman for putting all of this 
forward.
  Mr. WELCH. Likewise, we thank you for doing this.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  In closing, I have no doubt that this will pass, as rightfully it 
should, but if I can take a moment, looking at that picture of the 
young lieutenant wearing his cavalry insignia, Armor is the only branch 
that I know of that has two insignias: one when you are stationed when 
you have heavy armor, one for the cav.
  The fact is, in most wars, the enemy is ahead of you and you look for 
the enemy. In World War II and Korea, people talked about going to the 
front. In Iraq, there is no front. So every day Lieutenant Riordan knew 
he was at the front. Every day he knew in the light-armored vehicle he 
was riding in that, in fact, an IED could be cranked off either 
remotely or on his vehicle nearing it at any time.
  Our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are not faced by an 
enemy who has a front. They are faced by an enemy that almost to a 
person hides behind improvised explosives. More of our soldiers, 
sailors, marines, and airmen have died because of these devices, not by 
an enemy at a front, but by a bomb on the road. Lieutenant Riordan was 
no different.
  So when you look at his awards and you look at the way he lived and 
died, he wasn't fighting a war in which he went to the front to face an 
enemy; he faced that enemy, and at any moment his life could end, as it 
did end, by a sneak attack that had no face on it.
  The courage of our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan is greater 
in many ways than those who had a reprieve from the front from time to 
time and who knew when they were going toward their enemy, whether it 
was toward, if you will, heavy fire or sniper. In Iraq and Afghanistan 
in the past, the present, and now in the future, our soldiers, sailors, 
marines, and airmen face an enemy that they will likely never see, and 
they are in peril virtually every moment of the day and night. That 
special relationship is one that I hope the American people understand 
no generation has faced the way this generation faces.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge support of the bill and yield back the balance of 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5386.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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