[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14151]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   TO HONOR THE HEROIC ACTS OF UNITED STATES ARMY PVT. JASON KLEINMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 9, 2003

  Mr. ACKERMAN.  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Private Jason 
Kleinman, of the  United States Army, whose courage and valor in the 
face of tremendous danger saved the lives of three fellow United States 
soldiers during an enemy ambush outside of Baghdad on Memorial Day. 
Pvt. Kleinman, along with two fellow soldiers, ignored flames and 
exploding ammunition to pull three wounded comrades from a burning 
Humvee.
  Pvt. Kleinman, a member of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's Task 
Force 270, was traveling in a convoy of Humvees when an Iraqi man 
tossed a home-made bomb under the wheels of the vehicle in front of 
his. The bomb blew the Humvee back 80 feet, igniting the gas tank as 
well as machine gun and anti-tank rounds inside. Without hesitation, 
Pvt. Kleinman, along with Pvt. Dustin Meeks and Pvt. Enrique Alvarado, 
dragged three soldiers from the burning Humvee despite at least 50 
secondary explosions as ammunition continued to discharge inside the 
vehicle. Though the Humvee's gunner succumbed to his injuries, the 
other two soldiers have Pvts. Kleinman, Meeks and Alvarado to thank for 
their lives.
  I am proud to represent Pvt. Jason Kleinman, a nineteen year-old 
native of Roslyn Heights, Long Island who joined the Army last 
September, after graduating from Herricks High School in New Hyde Park. 
Jason had dreamed of joining the Army since he was a child. Now he will 
return home as a hero.
  I commend Jason Kleinman for his tremendous display of bravery in the 
face of mortal peril and I ask my colleagues in the House of 
Representatives to please join me in praise of this young man's heroic 
acts.

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