Yale (MI) Native Gets Chance To Attend State of Union Address (Joshua Sparling)

The Huron Daily Tribune ^ | 02/01/2006

[tgslTakoma]

WASHINGTON — Pfc. Joshua Sparling of Yale and his parents attended the State of the Union address as the special guest of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, J. Dennis Hastert, and of his hometown representative, Candice Miller.

Sparling, 24, graduated from Yale High School and joined the Army in early 2005. He was on special assignment in Ramadi, Iraq when his leg was terribly wounded by an improvised explosive device on Nov. 18. He is now recuperating from his wounds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

“I am proud and honored that Josh and his parents are the guests of myself and the Speaker of the House for the President’s speech,” Miller said. “Because of his honorable service to this country and selfless commitment to protecting our nation and spreading freedom, there is no one more deserving of the privilege of seeing the President give the State of the Union address in person.

“When I first spoke with Josh he told me how proud he was to provide security for the Iraqi election in October where he saw democracy take root. I thought it was only fitting that he come to see, in person, his Commander-In-Chief give an update on the war and watch our own democracy in action.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Excellent! Thanks for posting.

[Bigg Red]

Great!!

[AZamericonnie]

Fantastic!

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Guess someone thought the DC Chapter wouldn't be interested in this news report.

[YaYa123]

I wonder if it's possible to get this young man's email addy so we can thank him for his service.


many thanks for posting this.

[gate2wire]

Excellent, thanks for the ping.

[tgslTakoma]

Sorry about that. I'm juggling a few projects right now, one of which is video of last week's Code Pink / Allison Yorra ___(fill in blank) meltdown. That should be up and viewable soon.

Thanks for pinging the list, JVb!

[angelsonmyside]

Excellent article thank you for posting.

[Landry Fan]

great news.

[Landry Fan]

ping

[StarCMC]

EXCELLENT ping!

[StarCMC]

Thanks for the ping Landry Fan!! Too cool!!!

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[basil]

You know how great I feel about this, don't cha!

[Landry Fan]

I can guess!

[Salgak]

Isn't this the same guy who got that awful card from that idiot who ran "forsake the troops" ????

[tgslTakoma]

Yeppers.

[bmwcyle]

We see his dad at Walter Reed on Fridays.

[Albion Wilde]

Thanks for the ping! I looked for him but didn't see him, but I did see the woman trooper who obtained custody of her service dog.