To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 185 State Street in Manhattan, Illinois, as the "Army Pvt. Shawn Pahnke Manhattan Post Office".

Mr. Speaker, let me first begin by thanking the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis) of the Committee on Government Reform, every member of the Committee on Government Reform, and particularly the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Miller) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for joining me here on the floor and their assistance in their effort to honor these three members of the American military.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the heroic actions of three service members from the 11th Congressional District of Illinois, three service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their life to the defense of our Nation and our freedoms. Army Staff Sgt. Lincoln Hollinsaid of Malden, Illinois; Marine Captain Ryan Beaupre of St. Anne, Illinois; and Army Private Shawn Pahnke of Manhattan, Illinois, each served proudly and bravely in the United States military.

Today, Mr. Speaker, the House will honor the memory of these three soldiers with the passage of H.R. 3536, H.R. 3537, and H.R. 3538, bills that will rename the post offices in each of these soldiers' hometowns in their honor. I note and express appreciation to my colleagues in the Illinois delegation, all of whom have co-sponsored this legislation, each and every one of them of the 19 in the Illinois delegation.

Mr. Speaker, I have unfortunately lost three soldiers from my district in the war against terror. In each of these cases the soldiers who gave their lives came from small communities, towns where each of those soldiers are well known, towns that gave one of their own in the defense of freedom, towns that have been there to help give the Hollinsaid, Beaupre and Pahnke families the support they needed and still need in dealing with their loss.

Today this body will bestow a small yet important honor in remembrance of the sacrifices of these three men, soldiers and their families by renaming the only Federal installations in these three small towns, the community gathering place, the local United States Post Office.

H.R. 3536 will rename the Malden, Illinois Post Office after Army Staff Sergeant Lincoln Hollinsaid. Staff Sergeant Hollinsaid was an engineer with the U.S. Army Third Infantry Battalion. He was lost April 7, 2003 while operating a crane to help clear a path along U.S. Army forces to penetrate the grounds of the Baghdad Airport and capture this key facility.

Lincoln loved fishing, four-wheeling in his truck, and was also a self-taught guitar player. Linc, as his father Dan and mother Nancy called him, was proud to serve in the United States Armed Forces and his service has been a great source of pride for the small community of Malden, a town of 380 residents in Bureau County, Illinois.

Lincoln Hollinsaid was more than a source of pride, though. Linc and his family have been a source of strength for other military families dealing with the loss of a loved one. So much so that our own president, President Bush, made mention of Linc in his address at Arlington National Cemetery this past Memorial Day.

The Memorial Day services at Arlington was somber, as tradition would have you expect, but the crowd chuckled as President Bush recalled a letter that Army Staff Sergeant Lincoln Hollinsaid wrote from the Mid East, telling his family that he enjoyed getting mail from them but I wish my truck and boat knew how to write. President Bush said, quoting Hollinsaid, ``I sure do miss them.''

We miss Lincoln Hollinsaid. I ask for Members' prayers for the Hollinsaid family and Members' unanimous support of H.R. 3536 to rename the Malden, Illinois Post Office after Army Staff Sergeant Lincoln Hollinsaid.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3536) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 210 Main Street in Malden, Illinois, as the ``Army Staff Sgt. Lincoln Hollinsaid Malden Post Office''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3536.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the next three pieces of legislation that the House will consider today are each tributes to a fallen soldier of the United States Armed Forces who served in Iraq in the past year.

All Americans and all peace-loving people around the world should have rejoiced in the news just yesterday that members of the Iraqi Governing Council signed an interim constitution, a grand step towards the objective of establishing free elections and a permanent self- ruling government in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, in working to achieve these extraordinary goals, countless American servicemen and women have sacrificed for months since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom nearly one year ago and, indeed, some American soldiers today have paid the ultimate price for our country. Today I am pleased that the House is taking time

to consider bills that will honor the lives of three brave men whose service to our Nation and to freedom everywhere must never be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, the first of the three bills introduced by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) that we will consider is H.R. 3536. This designates a post office in Malden, Illinois as the Army Staff Sgt. Lincoln Hollinsaid Post Office. All members of the Illinois State delegation have co-sponsored this meaningful legislation.

Mr. Speaker, Staff Sergeant Lincoln Hollinsaid left his home in Malden, Illinois, on January 22, 2003 and headed to the Middle East as an engineer with the Army's Third Infantry Division to participate in the liberation of Iraq. He was killed tragically on April 7, 2003 in Iraq when a rocket propelled grenade hit the crane that he was operating. Sergeant Hollinsaid was 27 years old.

Lincoln was a graduate of Princeton High School in Princeton, Illinois, and he was an avid fisher. He enlisted with the Army in 1995 and he had served ever since.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller), I extend the heartfelt sympathy of the House of Representatives to the family of Lincoln Hollinsaid, especially his father, Dan, his mother, Nancy, and his two brothers, Adam and Kevin.

I urge all the Members of the House to support H.R. 3536, that will commemorate the life and service of Staff Sergeant Lincoln Hollinsaid.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all members to support

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3537) to designate the facility of the United States

Postal Service located at 185 State Street in Manhattan, Illinois, as the ``Army Pvt. Shawn Pahnke Manhattan Post Office''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3537.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the second post office designation bill in honor of an Iraq war victim pays tribute to the courage and service of Army Private Shawn Pahnke.

This legislation, H.R. 3537, names a United States Postal Service Facility after Private Shawn Pahnke of Manhattan, Illinois, the town in which Shawn grew up.

Mr. Speaker, Shawn was another hero serving in Iraq to secure the freedom of all Iraqi citizens. Private Pahnke enlisted in October of 2002 right after getting married to his wife, Elisha. He left with the First Armored Division for Freidberg, Germany, four days before the birth of his son, Dean, on March 20, 2003. Sadly, Shawn would never meet his son. While patrolling the streets of Baghdad in a Humvee armored vehicle, a single bullet was fired into the vehicle and struck Private Pahnke in the back, fatally wounding him.

Mr. Speaker, Shawn's lifelong dream was to serve in the military. In the days after his son's death, his father, Tom, told about the letter Shawn had written to his family. These letters described how proud he was to be a soldier. His mother, Linda, said Shawn wanted to show the Iraqi people how wonderful freedom could be.

Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) for honoring Army Private Shawn Pahnke. This post office is a deserved and permanent token of appreciation from a grateful Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from the State of Illinois (Mr. Weller), the sponsor of this legislation, my distinguished colleague.

(Mr. WELLER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members would support the passage of this important legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, 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. I also wish to thank my colleagues in the Illinois delegation for joining me as original cosponsors of this legislation.

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. I have known Private Pahnke's father, Tom, for many years through his work as town administrator with the village of Manhattan, as well as his mother, Linda.

Mr. Speaker, this is a good family, a patriotic family that is very proud of Shawn's service in the United States military. Private Pahnke was much like the other two soldiers we will be honoring today, as he comes from a small town. Shawn's loss was a loss felt by family, by friends, and by the entire community in Manhattan; and while we in this Chamber today can never replace the memory of a lost father, husband or son, by passing H.R. 3537 we can ensure that the memory of this American hero endures in his hometown; and perhaps one day, when he is old enough to understand, baby Dean Pahnke will realize his father was truly loved, not only by his family but by the community and the Nation he served.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the entire Pahnke family.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to give H.R. 3537, renaming the Manhattan, Illinois, post office after Army Private Shawn Pahnke, their unanimous support.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Miller) in presenting these 3 bills that honor three men who have served us with all they had to give in Iraq. I am particularly honored to do so because the District of Columbia has lost more men already in Iraq than many States all without voting representation in this House or in the Senate. So it is with special pride that I speak for myself and for all whom I represent in honoring these three men who gave their lives for all of us.

As a member of the House Committee on Government Reform, I am pleased to join my colleague in consideration of H.R. 3536, legislation naming a postal facility in Malden, Illinois after Staff Sergeant Lincoln Hollinsaid. This measure was introduced by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) on November 19, 2003 and unanimously reported by our committee on February 12, 2004.

H.R. 3536 enjoys the support and co-sponsorship of the entire Illinois delegation.

Army Staff Sergeant Lincoln D. Hollinsaid was a soldier from Malden, Illinois, who was killed on April 7, 2003 in an Iraq grenade attack.

Lincoln Hollinsaid graduated from the local high school in Malden, Princeton High, and worked a short while at a local construction company before enlisting in the U.S. Army. As an Army engineer, Staff Sergeant Hollinsaid served on the Army's Third Infantry Division. He was assigned to the B company, 11th Engineer Battalion, in Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Because of his interest in serving in combat, Hollinsaid transferred from a California training post to the Third Infantry Division in Georgia. Sadly, at age 27, this staff sergeant was killed when the crane he was driving was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. He is survived by his parents, Dan and Nancy, and two brothers, Adam and Kevin.

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for seeking to honor the memory of a fallen soldier. I urge swift passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.