[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6368]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNITION OF SGT. KENNETH ``LEVI'' RIDGLEY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN SHIMKUS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 13, 2005

  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life of Army 
Sgt. Kenneth L. Ridgley who was recently killed in action fighting for 
freedom in Mosul, Iraq.
  Ridgley was a 30-year-old who grew up in Pearl, Mississippi. He 
graduated from East Richland High School in Olney, Illinois. He then 
went on to attend Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He served 
as an Army sergeant assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry 
Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, 
Washington. He was recently killed in action as a result of a combat 
related injury.
  Sergeant Ridgley is survived by his wife, Charity Ridgley, of 
Steilacoom, Washington; a son, Dillon Ridgley; his father and mother, 
Clarence and Betty Richards, of Olney; a brother and his wife, Stan and 
Pam Richards, of Alhambra; and three sisters, Sonja Terry and her 
husband, Randy, of Willingford, Connecticut, Sher Richards and her 
husband, Steve Millett, of Columbus, Ohio, and Peggy Flauta and her 
husband, Rey, of Truckee, California I am proud of the service this 
young man gave to our country and the service his fellow troops perform 
everyday. Not enough can be said about Sergeamt Ridgley. It is troops 
like him that are risking their lives day in and day out to ensure our 
freedom here at home and to others throughout the rest of the world. I 
salute him and my best wishes go out to his family and all the troops 
fighting to ensure freedom and democracy.

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