[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 2409-2410]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING LANCE CORPORAL MARIO ATRIAN, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 1, 2006

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to one of our Nation's 
young heroes, Lance Corporal Mario Atrian, Jr.
  Lance Corporal Mario Atrian joined the United States Marine Corps at 
the age of 17 and served two tours of duty in Iraq. On April 9, 2004, 
during his second tour of duty, LCpl. Atrian was injured while bravely 
fighting to protect a friendly unit from an enemy ambush. Despite 
bleeding profusely from both his right and left arms, and his driver 
being killed, LCpl. Atrian continued to defend his comrades and 
relinquished his position to receive medical attention only after the 
enemy ambush had been broken and his fellow wounded Marines were away 
from enemy fire. Today, LCpl. Atrian will receive one of our Nation's 
highest awards, the Silver Star for his leadership, his loyalty, and 
his courage.

[[Page 2410]]

  Lance Corporal Mario Atrian is from Los Angeles and is a resident of 
my district. Our community is blessed to have such a distinguished, 
brave, young man. I encourage him to continue to fight for that which 
he believes with such courage and dignity throughout the rest of his 
life.

                          ____________________