[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11444-11445]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        MEMORIAL DAY--PAYING A DEBT TO THOSE WE CAN NEVER REPAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, with Memorial Day 2005 just around the 
corner, men and women in Congress are hurrying home for festivities 
like those that we will enjoy in Indiana. This Sunday, the Indianapolis 
500 Mile Race will draw half a million people. But it will not be the 
most important occasion of this long family weekend, because Hoosiers 
will gather in places like New Castle and Muncie and Elwood, Indiana, 
to commemorate this Memorial Day.
  I could not help but think about the obligations of this day as I 
toured the battlefield of Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, just 
last weekend. There, Mr. Speaker, I walked on the ground that saw 6,000 
Americans fall in battle in a single day, the bloodiest day in American 
history. Six thousand Americans at Antietam would turn into 600,000 
Americans on both sides of the battle that fell in the Civil War.
  Just 3 years after the end of that conflict, Americans set aside the 
30th day of May each year to remember their sacrifice, and for 130 
years, Decoration Day became Memorial Day, and it is something that we 
take seriously in the Hoosier State, as it will be taken seriously in 
every State in this Union.
  The Bible says, If you owe debts, pay debts; if honor, then honor; if 
respect, then respect. I rise humbly as the Congressman from the Sixth 
District of Indiana to pay a debt of respect and honor to those men who 
have fallen most recently in the service of this Nation in my 
congressional district.
  These are men like Sergeant Jeremy Wright, who died January 3, 2005, 
when an improvised explosive device struck his military vehicle. He was 
31 and a part of the Special Forces group from Fort Lewis.
  Master Sergeant Mike Hiester died March 26, 2005, when his military 
vehicle also struck a land mine 30 miles west of Kabul, Afghanistan. He 
was 33, from Bluffton, Indiana, survived by his brave wife, Dawn, and 
two small children. He was with the 76th Infantry Brigade, Army 
National Guard, Indianapolis. Both men fell in Operation Enduring 
Freedom.
  In Operation Iraqi Freedom we remember Lance Corporal Matthew Smith, 
who died May 10, 2003, in a vehicle accident in Kuwait, age 20, from 
Anderson, Indiana. He was a Reservist assigned to Detachment 1, 
Communications Company, 4th Force Service Support Group, Peru, Indiana.
  Private Shawn Pahnke was killed June 16, 2003, by a sniper while on 
patrol. He was 25, of Shelbyville, Indiana. He was with the 1st 
Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, 
Germany.
  Specialist Chad Keith who was killed July 7, 2003, in Iraq, when a 
roadside bomb exploded as his unit patrolled the streets of Baghdad. He 
was 21, from Batesville, Indiana. He was with Company D, Fort Bragg, 
North Carolina.
  Staff Sergeant Frederick Miller, Jr. Fred was killed September 20, 
2003, when an IED hit his vehicle. He was 27, from Hagerstown, Indiana, 
and was with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colorado.
  Sergeant Robert Colvill, Jr., was among five soldiers killed 8 July 
2004 in Baghdad. All were in the Iraqi National Guard headquarters when 
it came under mortar attack. He was 31 and from Anderson, Indiana, part 
of the 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany.
  And Specialist Raymond White. Ray died 12 November 2004, in Baghdad, 
when his patrol was attacked with small arms fire. Ray was 22 and from 
Elwood, Indiana.
  It is an honor to serve such men, Mr. Speaker, and it is an honor to 
rise and to pay some debt of honor and recognition to these brave men 
and their families.
  As we approach this Memorial Day, we do it with humility and no small 
amount of emotion, knowing that as

[[Page 11445]]

we read these names, they are more than names. They are sons, they are 
husbands, they are brothers, they are uncles, they are friends and they 
are neighbors; and they are gone. Gone perhaps to this world, but I am 
confident not to the next. Their duty was to serve. Our duty is to 
remember.
  So I rise with a deep spirit of humility simply before this Memorial 
Day arrives to remember these men; to assure them and all of the tens 
of thousands who went before them that this Nation will never fail to 
feel the gratitude for their sacrifice, and on this Memorial Day never 
fail to pray for them, for the salvation of their immortal souls, and 
for the comfort of those they left behind.
  Happy Memorial Day.

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