[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 974]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                    First Lieutenant Garrison Avery

  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I rise to express my sympathy over the loss 
of Army 1LT Garrison Avery, from Nebraska. Lieutenant Avery died of 
wounds he suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near 
his military vehicle while on patrol in Baghdad, Iraq on February 1. He 
was 23 years old.
  Lieutenant Avery grew up in Lincoln and graduated from Lincoln High 
School in 2000. He received his parents permission to enlist in the 
Army at age 17 and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2004. 
During his junior year at the academy, Lieutenant Avery established an 
organization called, ``Light by Morning,'' to aid Iraqi orphans. After 
graduating from West Point, he successfully completed the U.S. Army 
Ranger School and the Sapper Leaders Course and was assigned to the 1st 
Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in Fort 
Campbell, KY. He was deployed to Iraq in October 2005. Lieutenant Avery 
will be remembered as a loyal soldier who had a strong sense of duty, 
honor, and love of country. Thousands of brave Americans like 
Lieutenant Avery are currently serving in Iraq.
  Lieutenant Avery is survived by his wife, Kayla; parents, Susan and 
Gary Avery; brothers, Clinton and Johnathan; and sister, Elizabeth. Our 
thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time. America is 
proud of Lieutenant Avery's heroic service and mourns his loss.
  I ask my colleagues to join me and all Americans in honoring 1LT 
Garrison Avery.

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