HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 249 Offered January 18, 2008 Celebrating the life of Sergeant David Eugene Lambert. ---------- Patron-- Bowling ----------

WHEREAS, Sergeant David Eugene Lambert, aged 39, a resident of Mavisville and formerly of Cedar Bluff, was killed in the line of duty on October 25, 2007, while valiantly serving his country in Baghdad, Iraq; and

WHEREAS, David Lambert was born in Richlands on November 9, 1967, the son of Howard and Mary Sue Short Lambert, graduated from Richlands High School in 1987, and studied criminal justice at Southwest Virginia Community College; and

WHEREAS, David Lambert worked as a corrections officer at Keen Mountain Correctional Center for 11 years, where he was a dedicated member of the Keen Mountain Strike Force and the color guard; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Lambert enlisted in the United States Army in 1988 and in the Virginia National Guard in July 2005, and he left his hometown on July 19, 2007, for training at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and reported for duty in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on September 26, 2007; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Lambert was an excellent soldier, serving with the Virginia Army National Guard’s 237th Engineer Company, 276th Engineer Battalion, 91st Troop Command, based in West Point, and was a driver and automatic weapon gunner; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Lambert’s military awards include a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Global War on Terror Service Medal, Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal, and Combat Action Badge; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Lambert was engaged to be married to Heather Spencer of Mavisville, and he was devoted to his fiancée, his parents, and his many close relatives and wonderful friends; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Lambert's death is a reminder of the hazards faced daily by the thousands of Americans who serve in our armed forces overseas and whose devotion to duty places them in harm's way; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of a courageous and patriotic Virginian, Sergeant David Eugene Lambert; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Sergeant David Eugene Lambert as an expression of the high regard in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly and the citizens of the Commonwealth.