[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8519]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                 Sergeant First Class Lawrence D. Ezell

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life of a 
soldier whose work defusing bombs and traps in Iraq and Afghanistan 
saved countless American, Iraqi, and Afghani lives. Army SFC Lawrence 
Ezell, of Fountain, CO--a hero by all standards--was killed on April 30 
when a roadside bomb detonated near his unit. Assigned to the 62nd 
Ordnance Company, 71st Ordnance Group, out of Fort Carson, Sergeant 
Ezell was 30 years old.
  I know of no words that can properly honor Lawrence Ezell's sacrifice 
or measure the depth of his courage. Serving in an ordnance company 
requires a fortitude, a strength of mind, and a professionalism that 
few possess and even fewer are brave enough to summon for the task. It 
is a job with no room for error and no respite from danger. It demands 
a steady hand. It requires even steadier wits.
  Sergeant First Class Ezell performed his job day in and day out in 
the most dangerous places in the world. In 2003 and 2004, he was in 
Iraq. In 2005 and 2006, he was in Afghanistan. And this time he was 
back in Baghdad, trying to bring a measure of calm to its violent 
streets.
  We cannot know how many American servicemembers are alive today 
thanks to Sergeant Ezell's work, or how many Iraqi or Afghani citizens 
were saved from a devastating blast. We do know, however, how talented 
Sergeant Ezell was, and what a gifted leader he proved to be. He was 
highly decorated for his service. His awards included the Bronze Star, 
the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, and the Senior 
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Badge.
  He was the type of soldier who has earned the admiration and praise 
of our Nation, generation after generation. He was the type of soldier 
who Douglas MacArthur hailed in a 1962 address to cadets at West Point. 
The type of soldier who ``prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear 
the deepest wounds and scars of war.'' The type of soldier who typifies 
the creed of ``duty, honor, and country.''
  ``In twenty campaigns,'' General MacArthur told the cadets, ``on a 
hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed 
that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that 
invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of 
his people. From one end of the world to the other, he has drained deep 
the chalice of courage.''
  Sergeant Ezell's chalice of courage must have been bottomless. There 
is no other way to explain how a man can rise each morning, thousands 
of miles from his family, step into streets torn by sectarian strife, 
and put his life on the line to defuse bombs, day after day. He was a 
peacemaker in a land of great turmoil.
  To Sergeant Ezell's wife Christina, his parents Rebecca and Lawrence, 
and all his family and friends, our thoughts and prayers are with you. 
Sergeant Ezell's humbling service was beyond anything a nation can 
expect from its citizens. You can be certain that his country will 
never forget him, and never cease to honor his sacrifice.

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