Honoring Recently Fallen Soldiers Afghanistan

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I'm grateful for the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

You know, we were on a trip together, a bipartisan trip to Afghanistan, and as we were able to tour the country and meet with our military leaders, our CIA and our State Department, it was for me an interesting trip in that you see that support of our young men and women who are overseas fighting for their country does not have political boundaries. Our group on this trip came together and unanimously were supportive of the men and women who we have sent to defend this country, and I think it was quite remarkable to see this team come together.

Before I talk further, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

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I'm grateful to the gentleman from Louisiana for yielding.

I do want to briefly talk about one of our Wisconsin heroes who last week was fighting for his country in the Wardak Province. It's Matthew Hermanson, who is pictured here in the lower left corner of our diagram. He is from Appleton, Wisconsin, and he is survived by his wife and his parents.

He was, again, last week fighting for his country. He was part of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and the division's 4th Brigade is stationed in Fort Polk.

In Wisconsin, we have like many States suffered losses recently, and our hearts go out to the family, the parents of Matt and to his wife, who at a time when many Americans are celebrating what has happened in Pakistan with Osama bin Laden, this family and other families are grieving the loss of their loved one. And here is a great Wisconsin hero, a great American hero who was fighting for his country who gave us the ultimate sacrifice in his pursuit for freedom. And I am grateful for all that he has given his State and his country, and we are proud of him.

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