Johnny Isakson: “today I pay tribute to SFC Robert Lee ``Bobby'' Hollar, Jr. Sergeant First Class Hollar was an exemplary soldier…”

“today I pay tribute to SFC Robert Lee ``Bobby'' Hollar, Jr. Sergeant First Class Hollar was an exemplary soldier, respected U.S. Postal employee, and a loving family man. Before deploying for Iraq, Sergeant First Class Hollar dropped by Crescent Elementary School in Griffin, GA, to visit a class of students. In the classroom, Sergeant First Class Hollar fielded questions about where he was headed, what he would be doing there, and when he would be coming home. He encouraged the students to write and promised he would do the same. On September 1, 2005, on a road south of Baghdad, an IED ended the life of Sergeant First Class Hollar. As word of his death reached the classroom where he had stood just months before, the children began to cry. You see, Sergeant First Class Hollar taught them something else: he taught them that our freedom is not free. This week, the Senate passed S. 4050, a bill naming the post office in Thomaston, GA, as the Sergeant First Class Robert Lee ``Bobby'' Hollar, Jr. Post Office Building. For the children at Crescent Elementary School, this building will serve as a lasting memory of their pen pal and hero. For the rest of us, this building will serve as a reminder that our freedom is not free.”