[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7485]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL MEMORIAL

  (Mr. CRAWFORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CRAWFORD. Madam Speaker, earlier this month, I visited the 
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Memorial on Eglin Air Force Base in 
Florida. The memorial wall is located across from the EOD school where 
men and women from every branch are trained in the elite and 
specialized skills necessary to locate, identify, render safe, recover, 
evaluate, and dispose of explosives.
  As former Army EOD, I understand the critical role our EOD forces 
play as the key enablers in the ongoing war on IEDs both at home and 
abroad. I also understand the omnipresent danger that our EOD warriors 
face in the battlefield and on civil support missions here in the 
United States.
  The memorial wall contains the names of the brave men and women of 
the EOD who have given their lives in defense of our freedom. The 
memorial wall does an excellent job of recognizing the incredible 
sacrifice that our EOD forces and all of our men and women in uniform 
make every day on behalf of our freedom.
  I would like to take a moment to honor the EOD warriors who lost 
their lives in the line of duty between World War II and Vietnam but 
are not recognized on the EOD memorial wall. These men and women served 
valiantly and lost their lives in the line of duty, but are not 
included on the memorial wall because they were not physically assigned 
to an EOD unit at the time of their death. These brave warriors lost 
their lives performing EOD duties in support of their fellow soldiers, 
sailors, airmen, and marines and deserve to be recognized for their 
service.
  With Memorial Day approaching, now is an appropriate time to 
recognize their sacrifice. I would like to submit their names for 
inclusion in the Congressional Record.
  God bless our troops and God bless the United States of America.

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