[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      OLD BACKPACK 4 IRAQ PROGRAM

  (Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.).
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, Americans are rightfully 
confident that the prison abusers are a tiny few of the over 300,000 
American troops who have served in the war on terror to protect 
American families.
  A more representative symbol of our troops' efforts is the Old 
Backpack 4 Iraq Program of the 3-178 Field Artillery Battalion of the 
South Carolina Army National Guard led by Lt. Col. Mark King currently 
deployed in Iraq. They are collecting used and new backpacks containing 
school supplies to be provided to Iraqi children.
  The backpacks can be loaded with pencils, pens, notebooks, crayons, 
rulers, construction paper, a small teddy bear, shampoo, toothpaste, 
toothbrush, BAND-AIDS, soap, wash cloth, and a towel.
  I urge my colleagues to assist in this collection and bring backpacks 
to the Second Congressional District offices in Washington, West 
Columbia and Beaufort, along with offices of the Lexington County 
Chronicle. The first load must be completed by Thursday, May 21, so I 
can personally take them with me on a delegation to Iraq the next day. 
We will continue to collect them in the future.
  In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget 
September 11.

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