[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING EDWARD ``DUANE'' CANTRELL AND HIS DAUGHTERS ISABELLA AND 
                                NATALIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE McINTYRE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 21, 2012

  Mr. McINTYRE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor, at the laying to 
rest of Special Forces Edward ``Duane'' Cantrell and his two lovely 
daughters Isabella and Natalia, who were 6 and 4 years old, 
respectively, at Arlington National Cemetery. Duane was, and will 
always be an American Hero, serving 7 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan 
before perishing with his two daughters in a house fire in North 
Carolina. He was a wonderful farther and husband. Our hearts wave heavy 
for him and his family, and especially for his wife Louise who has lost 
the three greatest loves of her life and his son Kenny from his first 
marriage. Our prayers lie with this great American family on this day. 
Fortunately, Duane got a chance to come on a wounded warrior tour a few 
months before his death, and raved to his family and had planned to 
come back with the rest of his family. He got to see this great Temple 
of Freedom that him and his brothers had fought and died for. I ask 
that this poem penned in their honor by Albert Caswell be placed in the 
Record.

     Our Faith This Day
     Our . . .
     Our Faith This Day . . .
     Somehow!
     Some way!
     Must show us all the way!
     And as we lay your fine bodies down to sleep!
     So very deep . . .
     So down to rest, we pray to our Lord God to all of these to 
           bless . . .
     Let now our courage somehow crest . . .
     Give us the strength, to but so take just one more step!
     All in our faith this day . . .
     All in our gravest of all pain, so very deep!
     For one of America's very best, and his most beloved 
           daughters oh so very sweet!
     As upon all of our faces our most swollen tears, we now so 
           weep!
     Our faith this day . . .
     Must somehow, show us all the way!
     From such heartache, and such death!
     The way to hope and faith, so to our hearts to bless!
     The same kind of faith that which so led, this fine hero off 
           towards death!
     Who so left his greatest loves of all,
     to go off to war, to so answer that most noble of all calls!
     That call to faith and honor, and so death,
     that which so stands above all else, no less!
     Armed, but with only his fine faith . . .
     which so let him march off to war, him so led!
     As he walked through that valley of death,
     as his loved ones at home cried and prayed!
     As a most magnificent member of The Special Forces yet . . .
     7 tours no less!
     As Freedom Fighter, was but his most heroic course so 
           stepped!
     And came back home to such a wonderful family . . .
     a wife and two beautiful little daughters, to be so blessed!
     Oh it's not fair, please Lord God but hear our prayers!
     How much more pain, can but one family so bear?
     Let somehow this pain give way from here . . .
     But, some answers to some questions can only be found but in 
           our faith!
     So listen closely on the wind . . .
     Can you but not so hear our Lord from up above so then . . .
     As when there comes a gentle rain,
     all in your heartache, all in his love to so ease your pain . 
           . .
     And you his lovely wife, must somehow let your soul burn 
           bright . . .
     And for you and them somehow so carry on this night!
     And sometime into the future start a new life!
     And you his son, as thy will be done!
     Will grow up to be, such a fine man as he . . .
     For you have his heart you indeed!
     In you, him we will always see!
     For this you must believe!
     For a child not to live its full life!
     Is but the greatest of all curses, that which does not seem 
           right!
     But, take comfort on this night!
     For these children lie in our Lord's arms, with smiles so 
           very bright!
     For Heaven, don't we all pray for such the sight?
     So hush little babies, and don't you cry . . .
     For you are up with our Lord on high!
     And your Father is right there, all by your side . . .
     In The Army of our Lord, this very night!
     And one day too,
     your Mother and your Grandparents . . .
     My children, will so rise all to meet you!
     As they wipe those tears from their eyes . . .
     All because of their faith this day, so very deep down inside 
           . . .
     Our faith this day!
     Is but the only way . . .
     To Heaven we shall all so rise!
     And now as we lay them down to sleep!
     Daddy, and his little girls all in our souls we will so keep!
     As all in our hearts of love, now so buried so very deep!
     As on this day, because of all of this heartache we now so 
           weep!
     And for them, and us . . . Our Faith This Day, we all shall 
           keep! Amen!

     In loving memory of CW2 Edward ``Duane'' Cantrell, Isabella, 
     and Natalia
     --by Albert Caswell

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