[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4930-4931]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IN MEMORY OF SERGEANT DANNY LONDONO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page 4931]]


  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, last week this House passed a resolution 
offering our sincere thanks and this Nation's thanks to our men and 
women in uniform who have so bravely and brilliantly served the cause 
of freedom, justice, and democracy in Iraq.
  While I fully support that resolution, offering our sincere 
appreciation to our armed service personnel, I personally wanted to add 
to those sentiments the great sadness and most profound sense of loss 
on behalf of the families of those young men and women who have made 
the supreme sacrifice in the fight against terrorism and tyranny in our 
time.
  It is with such sadness today that I must add the name of Sergeant 
Danny Londono, from the neighborhood of Dorchester in the city of 
Boston, which I proudly represent in the Congress, to the list of those 
who have fought with extreme valor and given their lives for our 
country.
  In my brief time here in the Congress, following the attacks of 
September 11, I note that we frequently speak of the grandest ideals 
and the noblest principles on which this country stands; and against 
the backdrop of world terrorism, it is easy to be persuaded that we are 
all paying the price equally in some small way to meet the cost of that 
confrontation between good and evil.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say that there are some citizens, 
like Danny Londono, who are rendering all they have so that others 
might know freedom; and there are some families, like the Londono 
family, who are literally carrying this Nation forward on their backs 
and in their individual grief.
  One such citizen soldier is Danny Londono. Sergeant Danny Londono 
gave his life for his country on the streets of Baghdad about 10 days 
ago, and one such family who must now bear the terrible grief and 
sadness is Danny's family.
  Danny's family lives on East Cottage Street in Dorchester, 
Massachusetts, a tightly knit, hard-working neighborhood in Boston. 
Danny was a graduate of Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree, 
where he was a member of the track team. He enlisted in the Army 
straight out of high school and did tours as a foot soldier, as 
paratrooper, and as sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Division; and at 
age 22, Danny had served in Kosovo and Afghanistan, as well as Iraq.
  Sergeant Londono represents the very best this country has to offer. 
He was someone who hoped to use his skills and training that he got in 
the Army to make a better life for himself and his family so he could 
pay for college and possibly return to his community to serve as a 
police officer. His tour of duty with the Army would have finished in 
August.
  Mr. Speaker, this Nation is enormously proud of Danny Londono. We 
mourn his loss as we honor his memory. We are all proud of our Armed 
Forces and the job they are doing today in Iraq, as well as places like 
Kosovo and Bosnia, Afghanistan, Haiti and elsewhere; but I think it is 
important that we never lose sight of the individual stories of the 
soldiers who have given their lives on behalf of this country. For 
these families, the sacrifice is overwhelming, the sorrow is 
unspeakable, and the sacrifice is real.
  I join with the Members of the House of Representatives in offering 
our condolences and prayers to Danny Londono and his family.

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