Lillian Clamens

Floor Speech

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Mr. BACON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Staff Sergeant Lillian LaDae Clamens, who was born on May 9, 1972, in Omaha, NE. As a proud graduate of Omaha's Central High School, Lillian enlisted in the United States Army, and served as an Administrative Assistant Specialist from 1990 to 2007, eventually attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant.

During this time, she served at stations in Korea, Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, Germany, Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and is a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While enlisted, she took advantage of her travels where she encountered many different people and made lots of friends from diverse cultures. She greatly valued the different perspectives on life she learned from the people she met.

Lillian was also an adored mother. She gave birth to her first son Ayinde in 1993 and later remarried to Sergeant Raymond Clamens and had two more children, Lana and Vitoria. As a devoted wife and a role model to her children, family was always at the center of her life.

On October 10, 2007, Staff Sergeant Lillian Clamens was tragically killed by a mortar attack on Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq. At the time, she was 35 years old and had already served 17 years. Sergeant Clamens was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.

From the people who knew her best, Lillian was known as a woman who loved everyone who crossed her path and she demonstrated that when she sacrificed her own life to save others during the attack before she was tragically killed herself. As a soldier, she demonstrated the courage to defend American freedom, so that democracy may continue to grow and prosper for future generations to come.

This past spring, I was glad to see the City of Omaha honor our hometown hero by renaming a stretch of Caldwell Street as ``Lillian Clamens (Cobbin) Street''. The renaming of this North Omaha street near where she grew up, will ensure our community carries on her legacy and brings recognition to Sergeant Clamens' heroic service and sacrifice for others. We owe Lillian and her family a debt of gratitude that we can never repay.

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