[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 209-210]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING PRIVATE FIRST CLASS GEOFFREY A. WHITSITT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Inglis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. INGLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise to remember Private First Class 
Geoffrey A. Whitsitt, a 21-year-old of Travelers Rest, South Carolina, 
Army Airborne, serving in Afghanistan, headed for Special Forces 
training and hoping to become an Army Ranger.
  Geoff was 2 weeks shy of his 22nd birthday when, on January 13, an 
improvised explosive device was detonated near the Humvee he was 
driving, killing Geoff, his sergeant, and seriously wounding their 
gunner. Some Taliban or al Qaeda operative out there might be thinking 
that they killed an infidel. They didn't. They failed at three levels.
  First, Geoff was no infidel. He was a believer. He was a believer in 
America and a believer in the King of all creation, a citizen of the 
freest, most blessed land in the world, and a citizen of the kingdom of 
heaven. Geoff wanted that kingdom to come. He prayed for that kingdom 
to come. He worked for that kingdom to come. He served for that kingdom 
to come. In the end, he went there before the invisible became visible 
here.
  Those who detonated that IED failed at another level. They think they 
frightened Geoff's family, his friends and his countrymen. They're 
wrong. My wife and I visited the Whitsitts last night. Their faith in 
America, their faith in the author of our salvation, the Prince of 
Peace, the King of Kings is undiminished. They know that other Geoffs 
will run the hills and woods that Geoff loved to run in the northern 
part of our county. They know that another Geoff will come in last in 
his first cross-country meet and finish 16th in the State by the end of 
the season.

                              {time}  2000

  They know that another Geoff will take what he learned of love and 
books and faith in his home school and at Greenville Tech Charter High 
School and volunteer to serve his Nation.
  They know that another dad will take another Geoff to the banks of 
the Middle Saluda River for fishing and for talks about the essence of 
life. Those who detonated that IED failed at a third and higher level. 
They think that Geoff is dead. He isn't. He lives. He lives in our 
hearts and minds because he is one of our heroes.
  He lives in the heart of his older brother, Steven, serving with 
steely determination in the United States Navy.
  He will always live in the hearts of his mom and dad. They loved him, 
led him, admired him, and gave him up for the rest of us.

[[Page 210]]

  Their gift reminds us of the gift of all gifts--a father who had 
sovereign control over all aspects of His Son's substitutionary death, 
and who gave Him up for us all. Geoff lives in the nail-pierced hands 
of that Savior, and no one can snatch him out of those hands.

                          ____________________