Rubén Hinojosa: “today we are setting aside a special time to pay tribute to fallen heroes. My South Texas district is mourning the loss…”

“today we are setting aside a special time to pay tribute to fallen heroes. My South Texas district is mourning the loss of three such heroes, Pfc. Dustin Sekula, Sgt. Christopher Ramirez and Sgt. John Wayne Russell. These three men were very different. One was a fresh-faced 18-year-old who had only been in the Marines for 8 months. One was a 34-year-old veteran of the Gulf War and Kosovo who was looking forward to retiring and joining the Border Patrol. One was a 26-year-old, former high-school football player whose own hero was his 34-year Army veteran father. Yet all shared a love of country and a sense of patriotism and duty. Sergeant Russell, a member of the Army's 101st Airborne was killed when his Blackhawk helicopter collided with another helicopter on November 17, 2003 over Mosul, Iraq. Private Sekula, an infantry mortarman with the 2nd Battallion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, died April 1, 2004 from enemy fire in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. Sergeant Ramirez, who served with the Army's 1st Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry out of Ft. Riley, Kansas, was killed two weeks later on April 14 when his patrol was ambushed in Fallujah. When you hear the stories that friends and families tell about Dustin, John and Christopher, you understand just how special all three were. They were role models to their peers, devoted sons, loyal friends and active in their communities.”