[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1]
[SEN]
[Page 373]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                      Specialist Prince Koa Teewia

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I would like to set aside a few moments 
today to reflect on the life of SPC Prince Koa Teewia. Prince 
epitomized the best of our country's brave men and women who fought to 
free Iraq and to secure a new democracy in the Middle East. He 
exhibited unwavering courage, dutiful service to his adopted country, 
and above all else, honor. In the way he lived his life--and how we 
remember him--Prince reminds each of us how good we can be.
  Born in Liberia in 1979, Prince was separated from his mother when 
she visited the United States, and civil war broke out in her native 
country. Due to security concerns, she was not allowed to return to her 
homeland to be with her children. After his father fled the war-torn 
region in 1990, Prince stayed with an aunt and eventually found refuge 
in neighboring Sierra Leone.
  One by one, his mother managed to find ways for her eldest sons to 
join her in the United States. Prince was finally reunited with his 
parents when he moved to Durham, NC, in 1998 to live with friends and 
relatives. Shortly after his return, his parents moved to Delaware in 
the hopes of finding better paying employment. Prince stayed behind in 
North Carolina with the hopes of furthering his education and to enroll 
in classes at North Carolina Central University.
  Prince Teewia had always wanted to join the military of his adopted 
homeland and, in 2004, he signed up for the 101st Airborne Division, 
based out of Fort Campbell, KY. He had been deployed in Iraq for less 
than a month when he was killed on December 29, 2005, by a roadside 
bomb that detonated next to the humvee he was riding in.
  Specialist Teewia was granted full status as a U.S. citizen shortly 
after his death. This distinction was bestowed upon him because of his 
honorable service in the Armed Forces and his willingness to pay the 
ultimate cost while performing his duty in Iraq.
  Prince was laid to rest with full military honors in Delaware 
Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear, DE, on January 13, 2006. He is 
survived by his parents John and Rebecca, his maternal grandparents, as 
well as eight brothers and six sisters.
  I rise today to commemorate Prince, to celebrate his life, and to 
offer his family our support and our deepest sympathy on their tragic 
loss.

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