[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF MASTER SERGEANT KENNETH B. ELWELL

  (Mr. FITZPATRICK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Madam Speaker, today I have the high honor and 
solemn task of rising to commemorate the life and service of Master 
Sergeant Kenneth Elwell, who was killed in action in Afghanistan this 
past Sunday.
  Sergeant Elwell, who enlisted in the Army shortly after his 
graduation from Council Rock North High School, was killed along with a 
fellow infantryman by an IED during a routine foot patrol in Kandahar 
on the morning of July 17. He leaves behind a wife Kristen and two 
children, Elise and Nicholas of Fort Wainwright, Alaska; his mother 
Janice of Holland, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and countless other 
family and friends whose lives he touched.
  While those close to Sergeant Elwell have lost a husband, father, 
son, brother, and friend, America too has lost a hero. He served our 
Nation because he loved our Nation. His sister summed up his services 
perfectly when she said, ``He did what he loved, so we could do the 
simple, everyday things that we take for granted.'' And although the 
grief of the family must be overwhelming, I hope that they're able to 
take a measure of solace in the gratitude of the Nation that Kenneth 
died defending.
  Tonight his community will honor and remember him, but it is the duty 
of all of us here in Congress and across our grateful Nation to never 
forget his ultimate sacrifice and the family that he leaves behind.

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