[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10711]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM R. KEATING

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, July 8, 2011

  Mr. KEATING. Mr. Speaker, I was unavailable for votes on July 6th and 
a portion of July 7th, 2011, as I was attending the funeral services 
for Sgt. Matthew Gallagher, a constituent who was killed while serving 
this country in Iraq on June 26, 2011. Sgt. Gallagher would have turned 
23 years old on July 5th, a mere day before we welcomed his body home 
to Cape Cod and two days before he was laid to rest.
  While each fallen service member is a tragic loss for our country, it 
is their loved ones who have to live with this heartache every day. I 
hope that the families of our fallen warriors can find even the 
slightest measure of comfort in our nation's eternal gratitude for 
their loved one's service and sacrifice.

                          ____________________