Thomas Mott Osborne: “today we have two funerals occurring in Nebraska in my district. The two soldiers being buried are 22-year-old…”

“today we have two funerals occurring in Nebraska in my district. The two soldiers being buried are 22-year-old Specialist Benjamin Slaven, Plymouth, Nebraska, a reservist who was killed south of Baghdad on June 9; a 19-year-old Corporal Brent Zoucha from Clarks, Nebraska, who was killed in al Anbar province on the same day, June 9. Both are being buried June 20, today, and their funerals are occurring as we speak. This makes more than a dozen soldiers, all young, all from rural small communities, that have been killed in my district. Funerals, Mr. Speaker, should honor and dignify the sacrifices of those soldiers and their families. It should not be disrupted and dishonored by protesters with a political agenda, and unfortunately, some of those protests that have been mentioned previously have occurred in Nebraska. You can imagine how devastating those are to those families who are suffering greatly. I spoke recently to the mothers of both of these soldiers from Nebraska being buried today. You can sense their pain and their anguish. And so I commend Mr. Moran for offering H. Res. 731 and also want to thank and commend the Patriot Guard Riders for what they have accomplished.”