Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
April 1, 2003 -- Page: S4597

MRS. HUTCHISON. Madam President, we are reserving the first hour of every day when our troops are in the field to giving tribute to them, talking about some of the events that have happened in the field, talking about some of the acts of heroism, the individual acts, showing pictures of what life is like over there. I have done that on several occasions. I will again.

Today I want to talk about our prisoners. As the distinguished Chair understands--the Presiding Officer at this time is the other Senator from Texas--Texas is the base for the largest number of our active-duty military. One in 10 active-duty personnel calls Texas home. It is the home base for 114,000 active-duty service members. California comes in second with 107,000. North Carolina comes in third with 86,000. So we do feel a personal effect of this war. We also feel a sense of pride that it is our young men and women, along with all of those from the other States, who are out there on the front lines, protecting the freedom we enjoy so much every day.

I would like to talk about some of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and some of those about whom we are not sure at this time. Cpl Brian Matthew Kennedy, U.S. Marine Corps, 25 years old, from Houston, TX, grew up in Glenville, IL. He called his mom on March 18 to tell her he was about to go into action. ``It was very short and very special,'' she says of the call. Three days later, he died, when his Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait. He said to his dad: We are ready. We are ready. We are trained. We are ready to go. He was very proud. His parents are very proud of him.

SSgt Phillip Jordan, U.S. Marine Corps, 42 years of age, Brazoria, TX: Everyone called him Gump because he was so relentlessly upbeat. His son Tyler, 6, wants to be a marine like his father who was killed in a fire fight after a group of Iraqi soldiers feigned surrender.

Some are missing. Specialist James Kiehl, U.S. Army, 22, Comfort, TX, a computer technician with the 507th Maintenance Company: Kiehl was among the missing in the convoy ambush near An Nasiriya. His father Randy has been monitoring war news on two televisions, three phone lines, and a computer, keeping up a strong front and a strong face for the media, just in case they showed James any footage from back home.

PVT Ruben Estrella-Soto, U.S. Army, 18, El Paso: His father opposed his enlisting but he wanted to study engineering, and he was enthusiastic about going into the military and getting his education. He disappeared in the ambush on March 23 along with his friend Edgar Hernandez, who later turned up on Iraqi TV.

But Estrella-Soto's fate was unknown. ``Not knowing anything is hard,'' Ruben Estrella, Sr., told reporters.

CWO Johnny Villareal Mata, U.S. Army, 35, Pecos, TX: Mata grew up in a desert town just 200 miles from Fort Bliss, where his 507th Maintenance Company is based.

SP Edgar Adan Hernandez, U.S. Army, 21 years old, Alton, TX: ``He's got a noble character,'' his mother, Maria de la Luz Hernandez, says in Spanish. She then inadvertently slipped into the past tense: ``He was a good brother, a good son, respectful to the whole world.'' Hernandez, though, she believes is really alive. And he, too, was shown on Iraqi TV.

Captured: Army SP Shoshana Johnson, 30 years old, El Paso, TX: Her name means ``rose'' in Hebrew, the inspiration of an aunt who once worked as a nurse in Brooklyn. But her family is Panamanian American, and although she grew up in an Army family, she never expected to find herself on the front line. She is funloving, her younger sister Nikki says. She also says, ``She is outgoing, independent and trustworthy--definitely not the kind of person who stays in front of the TV day in and day out.'' Shoshana's dream was to be a chef, but culinary school costs a lot of money, and Army cook was close enough. It seemed safe enough, too.

But early on the morning of March 23, her father, Claude, was flipping through the channels looking for a cartoon show for Shoshana's two-year-old daughter, Janelle. He happened to catch a newscast on the Spanish language network, Telemundo. ``They said five Americans had been captured in Iraq. I caught one African-American female, 30 years old, from the 507th. Her name was Shana. I said it's got to be her.''

It was. Now her large extended family, including more than a dozen cousins, is watching and waiting. They are inspired by the relatives of Elizabeth Smart who helped stay in the forefront of the press until their 15-year-old kidnapped daughter was returned. ``We just want her to be treated humanely,'' Nikki told Newsweek, ``and to return home swiftly and safely.''

I talked to the mother of one of those killed in Afghanistan last week and she said, ``What I want is to make sure that my son did not die in vain.'' I assured her that her son did not die in vain; that the war on terrorism is going to protect the freedom for children and grandchildren throughout America, and our staying vigilant and staying on course will ensure that none of those who are already dead or are missing will be forgotten. They have paid a heavy price for freedom and we will always revere and respect them for what they have done for our country.

That concludes the tributes for today. The Senate is setting aside 1 hour every day for people to come to the floor and talk about some of the wonderful acts that are being done by our young men and women on the field as we speak today--protecting the way of life we have come to enjoy.

Audio clip of Senator's speech (4:19 min)