Corporal Ryan Cummings USMC, Requiescat in pace.

From President Bush's press conference on July 7, 2006:

There's been a lot of sacrifice in the war on terror. People have lost lives. We have lost, obviously, a lot of lives here on the homeland, and we've lost lives overseas.

I think of Corporal Ryan Cummings from right here in the
Chicago area. He was an honor student at Hoffman Estates High School. He volunteered for the United States Marine Corps.

He served two tours of duty in Iraq, and then he volunteered for a third. Ryan understood the stakes. He understood that we must win. And so he said, I'd like to go back. And he was killed in Anbar province last month.

Our prayers go out to Ryan's family. I marvel at the strength of his mother when she said, "He wanted to be doing something that made a difference. He was doing what he wanted to do."

I have confidence in the capacity of liberty to transform hostile
regions to peaceful regions. And I have confidence in our capacity to win the war on terror, because of people like Ryan Cummings are willing to step up and serve this nation.

From CBS 2 in Chicago:

During his nationally-televised news conference, the president remembered a Marine from the Chicago area killed in Iraq.

CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli spoke with the Marine's mother about what the president had to say.

He served two tours in Iraq, and then he volunteered for a third.

But Ryan Cummings never made it home from that last tour. He was killed by a roadside bomb last month.

His mother watched from her home in Northwest Suburban Streamwood as the president paid tribute to her son.

"I'm grateful that he recognized Ryan and his sacrifice," Jan Cummings said.

Jan Cummings agrees with Bush's position that now is not the time to leave Iraq.

"It was a job that Ryan believed in, and I think knowing that we're going to stay until we're done, it makes Ryan's sacrifice more meaningful. It helps to ease my pain a little bit," Jan said.

This mother's words put Cindy Seahag to shame.

As Ryan rests in peace, his mother has some measure of peace knowing that he died doing what he loved.

Ryan was a straight-A student at Hoffman Estates High School, but instead of choosing college he chose the Marines.

In her last conversation with Ryan on Mother's Day, Ryan told her he intended to become an engineer.

Now, his mother is left to think about what might have been and what she'd say to her 22-year-old son if she could.

"We all miss you and we love you," she said. "And can you believe how many people there are whose lives you touched?"

Ryan made an impact on people like a grieving mom in Streamwood, as well as the President of the United States.