Political Quotes

“I rise again today to pay tribute to another fallen brave hero from my home State of Illinois, a brave hero from the war on terror and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Army Private Shawn Pahnke. Under the legislation I am offering today, H.R. 3537, the Manhattan, Illinois, United States Post Office will be renamed after Army Private Shawn Pahnke. Private Pahnke was a main battle tank crewman with the United States Army 1st Armored Division's First Brigade. He was lost June 16, 2003, while patrolling Baghdad in a Humvee on a security detail. Shawn enjoyed playing baseball and was relatively new to the Armed Forces and had only recently been stationed in Iraq when he was taken from us. Shawn was the father to a newborn baby son, Dean, whom he never met. On the day of Dean's arrival, Private Pahnke spent most of the day on the phone with his wife, Elisha, talking her through labor and getting to hear the birth of his son and his son's first minutes in the world over the telephone. Mr. Speaker, this is a good family, a patriotic family that is very proud of Shawn's service in the United States military.”