[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 27806]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            GRATITUDE FOR THE VIRGIN ISLANDS NATIONAL GUARD

  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome the 26 men and 
women of the 786th Quartermaster Battalion led by battalion commander 
LTC Michael McDonald back home to the Virgin Islands. It was an 
emotional homecoming yesterday after 14 long months, as all honored the 
memory of McDonald's cousin, LTC David Canegata III, and MSG Floyd 
Lake, who died when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq 
in January. Just last week I joined the families at the interment in 
Arlington Cemetery of the commingled remains of the 12 men and women 
who were lost that day.
  MSG Hillis Benjamin, speaking for her fellow soldiers, summed up that 
running the base in Taji and making sure the troops were fully supplied 
had been a long, hard deployment for the battalion, and Commander 
McDonald thanked the soldiers for their ``professionalism, commitment 
and patriotism,'' attributing their success to their working together 
as a strong team.
  Mr. Speaker, I join my community in thanking God for their safe 
return and pray for the safe return of all of the members of the VI 
National Guard and all the other brave men and women who are serving 
today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, it is time to begin to bring all of the troops 
in Iraq home.

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