[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23631-23632]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE 2,000 AMERICANS KILLED IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, today marks a solemn milestone: 2,000 
American military personnel have now given

[[Page 23632]]

their lives fighting in Iraq; 244 Americans have also fallen in 
Afghanistan. We owe these brave men and women and their families a debt 
of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.
  In July of this year, I led a bipartisan group of 21 Members of 
Congress in reading the names of the fallen into the Congressional 
Record over a 2-week period of time. Tonight I continue this tribute by 
reading the names of some of those who have fallen most recently.
  In the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, each of these 
heroes stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die 
that freedom might live and grow and increase in its blessings. God 
bless them, and keep each of the brave Americans whose memory we honor 
tonight in our memory: Staff Sergeant Jeremy W. Doyle, Specialist Ray 
M. Fuhrmann II, Lance Corporal Phillip C. George, Private 1st Class 
Timothy J. Seamans, 1st Lieutenant Laura M. Walker, Sergeant Willard 
Todd Partridge, Private 1st Class Elden D. Arcand, 2nd Lieutenant James 
J. Cathey, Specialist Blake W. Hall, 1st Lieutenant Joshua M. Hyland, 
Sergeant Michael R. Lehmiller, Staff Sergeant Brian Lee Morris, 
Specialist Joseph C. Nurre, Private Christopher L. Palmer, Sergeant 
Joseph Daniel Hunt, Specialist Hatim S. Kathiria, Staff Sergeant Ictoir 
P. Lieurance, Private 1st Class Ramon Romero, Master Sergeant Chris S. 
Chapin, 1st Lieutenant Carlos J. Diaz, Sergeant 1st Class Trevor J. 
Diesing, Master Sergeant Ivica Jerak, Corporal Timothy M. Shea, Staff 
Sergeant Damion G. Campbell, Specialist Joseph L. Martinez, Sergeant 
1st Class Obediah J. Kolath, Chief Warrant Officer Dennis P. Hay, 2nd 
Lieutenant Charles R. Rubado, Major Gregory J. Fester, Specialist Jason 
E. Ames, Captain Lowell T. Miller II, Sergeant Monta S. Ruth, Sergeant 
George Ray Draughn, Jr., 1st Lieutenant Derek S. Hines, Staff Sergeant 
Robert Lee Hollar, Jr., Sergeant 1st Class Lonnie J. Parson, Lance 
Corporal Ryan J. Nass, Sergeant Matthew Charles Bohling, Specialist 
Luke C. Williams, Hospitalman Robert N. Martens, Specialist Jeffrey A. 
Williams, Sergeant Franklin R. Vilorio, Staff Sergeant Jude R. Jonaus, 
Staff Sergeant Christopher L. Everett, Specialist Jeremy M. Campbell, 
Sergeant Kurtis Dean K. Arcala, Seaman Apprentice Robert D. Macrum, 
Sergeant Alfredo B. Silva, Lance Corporal Shane C. Swanberg, Sergeant 
Matthew L. Deckard.
  Mr. Speaker, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, who wrote to 
the mother of five fallen soldiers, ``I pray that our Heavenly Father 
may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the 
cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must 
be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of 
freedom.''
  I would also like to thank the brave men and women who continue to 
serve our Nation in both Iraq and Afghanistan and throughout the world 
and serve with distinction. Our thoughts and prayers and gratitude are 
with you and your families at this time until you return home.
  To the families whose names I have read here tonight and other 
nights, if I have mispronounced your names, my apology. I want you to 
know your family member, your son and your daughter, your brothers and 
sisters, your fathers and mothers, that we only meant to put your name 
in the Congressional Record and to always be part of our country and 
our community.
  God bless you.

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