On the recordMarch 14, 2011
It has been my honor to introduce and shepherd to the floor H.R. 793, a bill paying tribute to an American hero in my home district. On May 2, 2009, Army Specialist Jake Robert Velloza of Inverness, California, was shot and killed during an attack by Iraqi soldiers near the city of Mosul. He was 22 years old and on his second tour in Iraq. He was the only child of Bob and Susan Velloza. He was engaged to be married to Danielle Erwin, proposing to her on the Golden Gate Bridge, between deployments, 6 months before his death. Jake was a stand-out athlete at Tomales High School like his father before him. He attended the College of Marin, and following in his grandfather's footsteps, worked at the North Marin Water District. Yet he knew from the time he was in his teens that he wanted to serve, and he joined the Army in 2006. Jake knew that he might not make it back home. He left behind a moving poem, full of courage and grace, that was read at his funeral. In it, he comforted his family and his friends by saying: "Don't grieve for me now for I am free. Be not burdened with times of sorrow. I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow."
