[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14256-14257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           REMEMBERING A SOUTH CAROLINA HERO, THOMAS CAUGHMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 24, 2004

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on June 9th, one of 
Lexington, South Carolina's most beloved sons, Army Specialist Thomas 
Caughman, was lost, when he was killed in a terrorist attack while 
serving in Iraq.
  As Thomas wrote from the field in Iraq, ``freedom isn't free.'' 
Sadly, his family, friends and fellow South Carolinians have learned 
this lesson in a painful and personal way. Thomas Caughman was the son 
of proud parents Hampton and Jane Caughman of Lexington, South 
Carolina.
  Thomas will forever be an American hero for defending the American 
people in the War on Terror. I ask all of my colleagues to join me in 
extending our deepest regrets to the family of Thomas Caughman, and the 
entire Wilson family sends their thoughts and prayers.
  I request that the following article from The State newspaper be 
placed into the Record, in remembrance of the fallen hero.

                    [From the State, June 19, 2004]

         War in Iraq: Lexington Bids Farewell to a Fallen Hero

                           (By Chuck Crumbo)

       When he wrote home, Army Spc. Thomas Caughman would close 
     his letters with these words: ``Freedom isn't free.''
       On Friday, family and friends honored the 20-year-old 
     Lexington County soldier who paid the ultimate price.
       About 1,000 crowded into the pews and lined the walls of 
     Red Bank Baptist Church, and another 200 to 300 waited 
     outside in the sweltering heat, as Caughman was remembered as 
     a joyful and religious young man who made others around him 
     feel special and loved.
       A large crowd was expected. Caughman was a member of one of 
     Lexington County's best-known families, with ties to banking, 
     retailing and the religious community.
       Nearly an hour before the service, traffic was backed up a 
     quarter of a mile on S.C. 6, which runs past the church in 
     the heart of the Red Bank community. After the church parking 
     lot filled up, some mourners had to park across the street in 
     the lot of St. James Lutheran Church.
       The turnout would have delighted Caughman, said the 
     soldier's uncle, Glenn Day, who offered personal remarks 
     during the service.
       ``If he could say something to me right now and come up and 
     do that little backhand on your chest . . . he'd say, `Look 
     at that crowd I got for you,''' Day said to laughter.
       Caughman, a 2002 graduate of Lexington High School, died 
     June 9 while patrolling a Baghdad neighborhood for bombs used 
     to attack U.S. troops.

[[Page 14257]]

       The Army said Caughman's armored vehicle was struck by 
     rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. Two other 
     soldiers in his vehicle also were wounded seriously.
       Caughman was assigned to Army Reserve Company C of the 
     291st Engineer Battalion, based in Spartanburg. He 
     transferred to a Pennsylvania combat engineer unit when it 
     was called up for active duty.
       Caughman is the first fatality of the Iraqi war from 
     Lexington County and the 21st member of the armed services 
     with ties to South Carolina to die in the conflict.
       Friday's service was a mix of sweet sentiment--about a son, 
     brother, nephew, cousin and soldier--and a dose of unabashed 
     patriotism.
       Just after the service started, the Rev. Robert ``Butch'' 
     Powell asked mourners to salute some 60 members of the U.S. 
     military who attended the funeral, including four dozen 
     members of Caughman's Reserve unit.
       Led by the fallen soldier's parents, Hampton and Jane 
     Caughman, mourners stood and offered a thunderous ovation 
     that lasted for 40 seconds.
       Later, pictures of Caughman flashed on a screen at the 
     front of the church while country singer Toby Keith's 
     recording of ``American Soldier'' was played over the public 
     address system.
       The pictures covered Caughman's life from toddler to 
     soldier.
       There were shots of Caughman as a child at birthday 
     parties, pedaling his red tractor, riding horseback, playing 
     youth league baseball and fishing at the family pond.
       There also were pictures of Caughman at his high school 
     graduation flanked by his parents, shots of him and his 
     buddies posing with a buck they had bagged, and images of him 
     in his Army desert togs at the wheel of a Humvee.
       Caughman's parents said he loved children and especially 
     relished the time he could spend with his cousins at family 
     outings.
       One of those cousins, 6-year-old Hannah Frye, honored 
     Caughman by standing before the packed church and flawlessly 
     singing Lee Greenwood's patriotic hit, ``God Bless the USA.'' 
     During the service, Day often referred to his nephew's ever-
     present smile.
       ``Every time I close my eyes, I see that smile and that 
     smile tells you a lot about a man's spirit,'' Day said. ``I 
     take great pride in being Thomas Caughman's uncle.''
       The Rev. Powell recalled one of his last conversations with 
     Caughman, before the soldier headed for Iraq. Caughman 
     believed it was his responsibility to fight for the freedom 
     that his family, friends and fellow Americans enjoy, Powell 
     said.
       ``He told me, `I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I'm 
     going for those who can't. I'm going because it's right,''' 
     Powell said.
       Referring to Caughman's writing ``freedom isn't free'' in 
     his letters, Powell said, ``there is a cost to be paid for 
     freedom and he willingly paid that cost.
       ``Thomas Caughman was a hero, and so are the others who are 
     still over there. Don't forget them in your prayers.''
       After the service, mourners filed outside to the church 
     cemetery, where Caughman was laid to rest in a family plot 
     near his grandfather, Raymond B. Day, the church's pastor for 
     36 years. Caughman received full military honors and was 
     awarded posthumously the Bronze Star for meritorious service 
     and the Purple Heart.
       Brig. Gen. Thomas Bryson, deputy commander of the 81st 
     Regional Readiness Command, presented the U.S. flag that 
     draped Caughman's casket to the soldier's parents.
       And then, after a final prayer, Hampton and Jane Caughman 
     rose from their seats, stepped to their son's casket and 
     gently patted and rubbed it.
       Caughman's 17-year-old sister, Lisa, and his girlfriend, 
     Lindsey Hendrix, followed. Each laid a rose on top of the 
     casket and gave it a soft kiss.
       Before the service, Toyanna Frye, who is married to one of 
     the soldier's cousins, talked about Caughman's desire to 
     serve and how he touched others' lives.
       ``It makes you look at your life and how we need to serve 
     others,'' Frye said. ``I imagine that it was a wonderful day 
     in heaven when he came home.''

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