[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 51 (Thursday, March 26, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2024-S2025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                     Staff Sergeant Dirk T. Shelton

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a brave young 
Kentuckian who served our country in uniform and whose life has been 
tragically cut short. SSgt Dirk T. Shelton, of Corbin, KY, died in 
Washington, DC, from wounds received July 13, 2014 on a training 
mission. The U.S. airman was 29 years old.
  Staff Sergeant Shelton enlisted in the Air Force in 2005, after 
graduating from Corbin High School in 2004. He served multiple overseas 
tours, including four to Afghanistan and one each to Somalia and 
Kuwait. He was a member of Joint Special Operations Command and was 
stationed at Fort Bragg, NC.
  Staff Sergeant Shelton was the recipient of many medals, awards, and 
decorations, including the Bronze Star, the Joint Service Achievement 
Medal, and the Air Force Achievement Medal. He was honored to be a 
Bronze Star recipient at such a young age. He had recently completed 
training in HALO parachute jumps. HALO stands for high altitude, low 
opening.
  Staff Sergeant Shelton had wanted to fly as a young child. He loved 
to make people laugh and his coworkers remember that Dirk made work 
fun. He leaves behind his wife, Maria. Together they would have 
celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on July 20, 2014.
  He also leaves behind his parents, Tom and Jenny Shelton; his sister 
and her husband, Morgan and David Taylor; his niece, Reagan; his aunts 
and uncles, Mike and Vicki Moore, John and Penny Hammons, and Joe and 
Missy Shelton; his cousins, Jon Moore, Amy Hammack, Johnny Hammons, 
Julie Hendrickson, Whitney Pratt, Emily, Jamie and Joey Shelton, and 
Jake, Brett and Allie Pennington; his parents-in-law, Israel and Nimfa 
Ocasio; and his sisters-in-law, Melanie, Marissa, and Mia Ocasio.
  The local Times-Tribune newspaper published an article detailing SSgt 
Dirk T. Shelton's funeral service. 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 Times-Tribune, July 25, 2014]

       Hundreds Attend Military Funeral Service for Dirk Shelton

                            (By Jeff Noble)

       Whenever America needed him, Staff Sergeant Dirk Thomas 
     Shelton always answered the call.
       Those calls took him to corners of the world where very few 
     people--even his own family at times--had any idea where he 
     was.
       After serving honorably to fight for and preserve our 
     nation's freedom and way of life, Dirk returned to Corbin to 
     rest forever.
       Hundreds of people paid homage to Dirk during a stirring 
     and poignant funeral service Thursday evening at Grace on the 
     Hill United Methodist Church. The full military funeral began 
     around 6:10 p.m., and followed the visitation that went on 
     from 2-6 p.m.
       A Corbin native, Dirk was a Radio Frequency Transmission 
     Journeyman assigned to the Joint Communications Unit in Fort 
     Bragg, North Carolina. He was also a member of the Joint 
     Special Operations Command, a sub-unified command of the U.S. 
     Special Operations Command.
       Sgt. Dirk Shelton passed away in Washington, D.C. last 
     Monday, July 14. He was on a training mission in Fairfax, 
     Virginia, and suffered a traumatic brain injury last Sunday, 
     July 13. At the time of his death, he was 29 years old.
       The military plane carrying his body left Washington, D.C., 
     Wednesday evening and landed at Lexington's Blue Grass 
     Airport later that night. A hearse brought the body south to 
     Corbin where it was taken to Hart Funeral Home, who handled 
     the arrangements.
       Around 12:35 p.m. Thursday, the hearse left the funeral 
     home as part of a small procession that took Dirk's body to 
     the church for the visitation.
       A long, steady line of people paying their respects to Dirk 
     lined outside and inside the chapel for much of the 
     afternoon. Inside, an open casket with an American flag 
     draped to the casket's side stood in the middle, just below 
     the stage.
       Above the casket, on either side were pictures and mementos 
     of Dirk.
       Looking down from the balcony to the right, a black and 
     white picture of him with his sister, Morgan Shelton Taylor, 
     stood out as a memory of earlier times. To the left was a 
     large picture of Dirk free falling from an airplane during 
     maneuvers--a favorite print of the Shelton family.
       Overhead, above the choir loft, two large video screens on 
     the left and right displayed pictures and tape of Dirk, his 
     wife Maria, his parents Tom and Jenny, and moments capturing 
     the life of a man who lived it like there was no tomorrow.
       Two poems and an essay written by Dirk were read at the 
     funeral. And, as people came inside for the service, there 
     was this comment, written on a small program card.
       ``All my life I have been pushed towards different goals. 
     Not all of these goals were goals I had necessarily set for 
     myself, but they were goals all the same. The reason for this 
     `push' is because people who are for me want me to succeed in 
     life. I would like nothing better than to be a successful 
     person and that brings about my fear. My fear is that I might 
     not be successful in life. . . . The way I see it, the only 
     real way that I could get rid of my fear completely is to 
     actually become successful at something in my life, which 
     leads me to believe that my fear may be around for a long 
     time. If I could change my fear, I wouldn't. It's what gets 
     me by. If it were gone, there would be a void in my life and 
     I would inevitably turn out to be what I fear--
     unsuccessful.''
       Dirk Shelton wrote those words in an essay.
       His friend Johnny B. Hammons read them at the service.
       ``He was a hero to me, he was a hero to his family, and he 
     was a hero to his community,'' Hammons said.
       According to his friends and comrades in the military, he 
     went beyond and above success at all times.
       Lieutenant Colonel Jim Clifford, the commander of Dirk's 
     unit in Fort Bragg, North

[[Page S2025]]

     Carolina, said of him, ``What many of you don't know is that 
     Dirk was a patriot in the truest sense of the word.''
       He noted Dirk's six deployments--four to Afghanistan, and 
     one each to Somalia and Kuwait--and the numerous awards, such 
     as the Bronze Star.
       Lt. Colonel Clifford told the audience, ``It takes just 
     plain guts. We wonder where you find such young men. Corbin, 
     Kentucky is that place.''
       Along with giving thanks to Dirk's parents, the officer 
     singled out Dirk's widow, Maria Shelton--who also serves in 
     the military and is stationed at Fort Bragg.
       ``Maria, thanks for standing by Dirk during those long 
     trips'' (that he made to serve his country during combat 
     tours and numerous overseas missions).
       The military was there in a show of strength and support.

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