Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I received an announcement this morning from the Department of the Army . It is a casualty announcement that unfortunately we all receive from time to time, and it says: ``The United States Army announces the loss of Private Aaron M. Hudson, 20, of Highland Village, Texas, who died on April 16, 2005 in Taji, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to initial reports, Private Hudson died from injuries sustained on April 15, 2005, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol. Private Hudson was assigned to the 401st Military Police Company, the 720th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Hood, Texas. Private Hudson's family resides in Highland Village, Texas. The Army extends heartfelt sympathy and condolences to his family who have suffered this loss.'' Well, Mr. Speaker, I thought I should do something to perhaps fill in a little bit more about the life of Private Hudson; and although I did not know Private Hudson, we did reside in the same city for a while. Private Hudson was a 2002 graduate of Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. He joined the Army a year ago and left for Iraq in January, and he was serving at the 401st Military Police Company. Mr. Speaker, the majority of the information that I am going to tell the House tonight came from a newspaper article in the Dallas Morning News from Monday, April 18, 2005; and I will insert that into the RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks. Private Hudson was traveling in a convoy between Baghdad and Camp Taji on Friday performing a routine patrol delivering mail, Mr. Hudson, his father, said. He was the gunner in his military police team and was charged with security at the rear of the convoy when a roadside bomb exploded. A large piece of shrapnel shot through his body armor and struck him in the chest. Private Hudson was born May 17, 1984, in Dallas. He played baseball, soccer, and basketball growing up; but his main high school sport was golf. Mr. Speaker, I received a phone call from a Highland Village policeman, Chuck Barr, who was a next-door neighbor of Private Hudson. Chuck being a policeman, you might imagine is somewhat circumspect about young men as they grow up. But he had no such reservations about Aaron Hudson. He told me that he trusted Aaron completely. He and his wife, Dawn, frequently used Aaron as a baby-sitter for their young children. And the photograph provided to me by Chuck Barr, the policeman in Highland Village, shows him and Mr. Barr's son sitting at their home in Highland Village. Officer Barr related that Aaron had fun, but he never got into trouble. He said he and his wife, Dawn, used to always know when Aaron arrived home at night because his truck was a little bit loud as it pulled into the driveway next door. Mr. Speaker, I cannot even imagine the pain that Mark Hudson and Angela Hudson, Aaron's parents, are going through this evening and this week. I called Mark Hudson today, and even though he was suffering enormously, he did take the time to talk to me a little bit about his son and his son's life. I told him that I would be speaking on the floor of the House tonight about his son. And he said, I want you to tell the other Members of Congress that his son, Aaron, was proud to be a soldier. He said, As a father, I could not ask for more than for my child to go and help people halfway across the world, people he had never met before, to go and help them, and to give his life in trying to extricate them from tyranny. Mr. Hudson wanted this body to know how much he supported the other young men and women over in Iraq this evening, how much he supported them in their effort to provide freedom for the Iraqi people. Mr. Hudson told me that Aaron loved to be called a soldier. Mr. Hudson reminded me that tonight in the Hudson household the casualty rate is at 100 percent, but still he wanted me to convey that he and his family harbored no ill will against the Iraqi people. It was clear in Mr. Hudson's mind his son had been murdered by criminals, by a criminal element in the country of Iraq and not the Iraqi people that his son had gone to help. Mr. Hudson also asked me to say a special note of thanks to a gentleman, and unfortunately Mr. Hudson did not know this gentleman's first name or his rank, but he was with Aaron in the 401st Military Police Division. The man's name is Robertson. He went through basic training with Aaron and they deployed together in Iraq, and it was Robertson who got young Aaron onto the medivac helicopter, and probably it was Mr. Robertson who heard Aaron's last words. Mr. Hudson said that the letters he got back from his son were always upbeat. He never complained about things like the food. He never complained about his life in Iraq. He loved the camaraderie and the structure of being around his fellow soldiers. Mr. Hudson said in the newspaper article, Let's face it, he would rather have been home, but he knew why he was there and he knew his being there was important. Well, Mark Hudson, Angela Hudson, I want you to know that just as we heard the gentlewoman from Florida, ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, say when she was speaking of her stepson that was going to be deployed, on behalf of a grateful Nation, we say, ``Thank you.'' As Aaron comes home this week, I again would say, Thank you. [From the Dallas Morning News, April 18, 2005] Highland Village Soldier Killed (By Christy A. Robinson) An Army private from Highland Village died in Iraq on Saturday, a day after he was struck by shrapnel from a roadside bomb. Pvt. Aaron Hudson, 20, was a 2002 graduate of Marcus High School in Flower Mound. He had joined the Army almost a year ago and left for Iraq in January. He was serving with the 401st Military Police Company. ``He liked being called a soldier,'' said his father, Mark Hudson. ``My son died doing what he wanted to do. As a father, you can ask no more for your children than to willingly help other people.'' Pvt. Hudson was traveling in a convoy between Baghdad and Camp Taji on Friday, performing a routine patrol and delivering mail, Mr. Hudson said. He was the gunner in his military police team and was charged with security at the rear of the convoy when a roadside bomb exploded. A large piece of shrapnel shot through his body armor and struck him in the chest. ``We knew in the back of our mind that this could happen,'' Mr. Hudson said. ``The people of Iraq, did not kill my son ..... the criminal element in Iraq killed my son. He was there to help the Iraqi people.'' Pvt. Hudson was born May 17, 1984, in Dallas. He played select-level baseball, soccer and basketball growing up, but his main high school sport was golf. He always felt at ease around people of any age, especially around his grandfather's golfing buddies. ``He loved to play golf with those men. Those men loved him, too,'' Mr. Hudson said. Pvt. Hudson conducted extensive research into which branch of the military he would join, his father said, before settling on being a military police officer in the Army . ``The thing that makes it odd is we aren't a military family,'' Mr. Hudson said. ``He sent us a letter the fourth week into basic [training]. Basic training is supposed to be tough. And he said, `Man, Dad. This is fun.' I knew then he made the right decision.'' Pvt. Hudson spoke to his family by telephone two or three times a week. The last time that he spoke with his parents was the Tuesday before he was killed to wish them a happy 25th wedding anniversary. Pvt. Hudson's phone calls and letters were never negative, his father said. ``The food was never terrible, the conditions were never terrible,'' he said. ``You would think the letters would start off with, `This sucks.' But they were never like that. It's made this a whole lot easier.'' Mr. Hudson said his son's best friends were fellow soldiers. ``He loved the camaraderie and the structure,'' Mr. Hudson said. ``Let's face it, he'd rather been home. But he knew why he was there, and he knew him being there was important.'' Pvt. Hudson's body was expected to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware early this morning. His body will be returned to North Texas by the end of the week, Mr. Hudson said. Funeral arrangements are pending. Pvt. Hudson's battalion in Iraq will hold a memorial service for him Wednesday. In addition to his father, Pvt. Hudson is survived by his mother, Annette Hudson of Highland Village; a sister, Lezlie Hudson of Dallas; grandparents David and Fredrika Hudson of Mount Pleasant, Texas; and great-grandparents Ed and Loise Huddleston of Lewisville. Watch Video