[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3734]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          IN MEMORY OF U.S. ARMY SPECIALIST CARLA JANE STEWART

  (Mr. SCHIFF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of my 
constituent, Army Specialist Carla Jane Stewart of the 250th 
Transportation Company based in El Monte, California. Specialist 
Stewart was killed in action on January 28, 2007 in Tallil, Iraq, when 
her military convoy vehicle overturned.
  Carla was born in La Canada Flintridge, California to an Armenian 
American family. Her father, Edmond Aprahamian, a former Marine, and 
her mother, Emmy Aprahamian, are proud parents who will cherish the 
memory of their daughter who chose to enlist in the U.S. Army at the 
age of 35. After completing her basic training at Fort Jackson, South 
Carolina, she told her family and friends that if her unit was not 
deployed to Iraq, that she would volunteer to go. As it turned out, the 
250th was deployed to Iraq last year and is due to return home in 
March.
  Carla learned mechanical drafting alongside her father. Her family 
and friends have spoken with reverence of her distinctive commitment to 
duty, her dedication to her unit, her love of country and family. 
According to her father, Carla always had a smile. She was a small 
woman; her unit called her Stewart Little, but she was gutsy and in 
every other way giant.
  It takes a special commitment to volunteer for military service in a 
time of war, and even greater devotion to country to do so at the age 
of 35, a time when most of us have put aside thoughts of abandoning the 
comfort of home to take up arms in the fight for liberty and freedom. 
Specialist Carla Jane Stewart did both, and on behalf of the United 
States House of Representatives, we honor her memory.

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