[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17786]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     IN HONOR OF MARINE DAVID PAUL BURRIDGE OF LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRISTOPHER JOHN

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 7, 2004

  Mr. JOHN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a fine 
American, a devoted son and a brave soldier who gave his life serving 
our Nation in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
  David Paul Burridge served with the U.S. Marine's 1st Marine 
Expeditionary Force. On the afternoon of the 6th of September, was 
killed outside Fallujah, Iraq when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle 
near a U.S. convoy.
  David had been stationed in Iraq since April and most recently, his 
Marine unit was charged with securing the volatile western Anbar 
province.
  David was one of seven brave Marine's killed outside Fallujah on 
Monday. While we here in the United States honored America's workers on 
Labor Day, David and his colleagues were hard at work defending our 
freedom. In the line of duty, David bravely gave his life to help make 
this world a better place for his fellow soldiers and indeed for us 
all.
  A 2004 graduate of Lafayette High School, David's principal 
remembered him as ``happy-go-lucky,'' saying ``he was just the kind of 
kid that if I were a teacher, that's the kind of kid that you say, `I'd 
take a whole class of them.'''
  Mr. Speaker, please join David's friends, family and me as we honor 
his memory and thank him for his heroic service to our country.

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