[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6847]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                      Staff Sergeant Dustin Gould

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I wish to take a moment of the Senate's 
time to remember a Coloradan who was lost to us in Iraq last week. 
Marine Corps SSgt Dustin Michael Gould--7th Engineer Support Battalion, 
1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force--was in his 
fourth tour in Iraq when he was taken from this life, at the age of 28.
  Sergeant Gould was a unique man, with a unique job in Iraq: he was an 
explosives ordnance demolition technician--a marine who disarmed bombs. 
In a country whose fabric is strained almost daily with bomb attacks, 
Sergeant Gould was there to help prevent them, literally working to 
defuse violence that threatened his fellow marines and Iraqis alike.
  Dustin Gould grew up in several towns in Colorado and attended 
Berthoud High School in Longmont, which he graduated in 1997. He chose 
to serve his Nation in the Marine Corps because of their elite status.
  During his service to this Nation, the Marine Corps estimates that 
Staff Sergeant Gould neutralized more than a million pounds of 
explosives, explosives that could have killed untold numbers of 
marines. Every time Dustin Gould went to work, he saved lives. That, 
truly, is the definition of heroism.
  With all of this talk of military service, we should not lose sight 
of the man. Dustin Gould loved the outdoors and spent his spare time as 
a young man there with his father. He was respectful and thoughtful, a 
natural leader who never hesitated to lend a hand to a friend in need.
  GEN Douglas MacArthur once said, ``The soldier, above all other 
people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds 
and scars of war.'' Dustin's father David said that Dustin did not 
relish conflict but was serving his Nation because a higher calling, 
protecting our freedom and way of life, compelled him to act. He did 
not seek praise or recognition but instead accomplished his job with 
humility and courage and in doing so helped others do the same.
  In the midst of America's Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wrote 
to the mother of a Union soldier, ``I pray that our Heavenly Father may 
assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the 
cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must 
be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of 
Freedom.'' We pray now for Dustin, for his wife Elizabeth, and for his 
whole family. The wounds they suffer from the loss of Dustin are deep 
and painful, and we as a Nation honor their and Dustin's humbling 
sacrifice by never forgetting this fine young man.


                        Specialist Blake Harris

  Mr. President, I ask the Senate to turn its attention to the loss of 
a Coloradan in Iraq, Army SPC Blake Harris, of Pueblo, CO. SPC Harris 
was in the Army's 1st Squadron, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st 
Cavalry Division. He was only 22 years old, and will be laid to rest 
later this week.
  Pueblo, CO, is known as the ``Home of Heroes.'' Pueblo hosts National 
Medal of Honor Day and has had as many as four living Medal of Honor 
recipients living in the community. In 1953, President Eisenhower joked 
to recipient Raymond G. ``Jerry'' Murphy, ``What is it . . . Something 
in the water out there in Pueblo? All you guys turn out to be heroes.''
  President Eisenhower was not far off. There is something special in 
Pueblo--the brave sons and daughters, like Blake Harris, that have 
answered the call to service for this Nation and those that have given 
up their lives for the cause of freedom. They are heroes.
  Unfortunately, we cannot bring back the heroes like Blake Harris. 
And, like so many of our Nation's soldiers that have made this ultimate 
sacrifice, Blake Harris was man of great courage and character who had 
his entire life ahead of him.
  Blake met his wife Joanna at South High School, and while Blake was 
in Iraq they kept in contact every day. He graduated from South High in 
2002 after spending 3 years in ROTC , and he followed in his father's 
footsteps by enlisting in the Army. He was in his second tour in Iraq 
and was stationed in Baghdad. Specialist Harris loved his job and was 
looking to become a career soldier, a man who dedicated his life to the 
service of his country.
  After the assassination of American civil rights pioneer the Reverend 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Senator Robert Kennedy reflected upon the 
words of the Greek poet Aeschylus: ``Even in our sleep, pain which 
cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own 
despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of 
God.''
  To his wife Joanna and their son Jonah and Blake's parents John and 
Deborah, the prayers of our entire Nation are with you, today and 
always. Each and every American is humbled by the sacrifice made by 
Blake. He served with honor and distinction, and I hope that the pride 
in his service and memories you carry with you will help ease the grief 
you feel at his loss.

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