[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 73 (Monday, June 13, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  REMEMBERING THE VETERANS OF SOMALIA

                                 ______


                         HON. ROBERT K. DORNAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 13, 1994

  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to include in the Record today 
and throughout the next week the stories of 26 modern day heroes, 
soldiers killed in combat in Somalia last year. I hope these stories, 
reprinted from a May 30, 1994, Army Times article, will remind everyone 
of the ultimate sacrifice each and every member of our Armed Forces are 
prepared to make in service to our Nation.

                              We Remember

       This Memorial Day, Army Times remembers 26 soldiers who 
     were killed in combat in the last year. All died in Somalia.
       They came from everywhere: the South, the East, New 
     England, the Midwest, Southwest and the Far West. Their 
     private lives were as varied as the American nation.
       The Army has recognized their sacrifice and honored their 
     memory with the posthumous award of the Purple Heart and 
     several Silver Stars, Distinguished Flying Crosses, Bronze 
     Star Medals. On May 23, two will receive the country's 
     highest military honor, the Medal of Honor.
       The defining criterion for inclusion in this tribute was 
     the Purple Heart, America's oldest military decoration. These 
     soldiers post-humously received the Purple Heart from April 
     30, 1993, to May 1, 1994, according to the Total Army 
     Personnel Command.


                        PFC Matthew K. Anderson

       When Somali gunmen brought down PFC Matthew K. Anderson's 
     UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a night reconnaissance 
     mission over Mogadishu, they robbed the world of a 
     ``brilliant'' wit with a great future as a writer, according 
     to his friends.
       ``The things we'll miss the most are his witty comments,'' 
     says PFC Thomas Romano. ``He always had a witty comment for 
     everything.''
       Romano and Matthew Anderson both joined the Army May 21, 
     1992, and since then their careers were inter-twined until 
     Sept. 25, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the latter's 
     helicopter as it flew over the Somali capital.
       The pair completed basic and advanced individual training 
     together at Fort Benning, Ga., and from there they both 
     joined B Company, 9th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 
     Fort Campbell, Ky., as Black Hawk door gunners.
       They also became roommates, which gives Romano a lot of 
     experience of his buddy's laid-back approach to life. ``His 
     answer to any problem was `Don't worry about it, man,''' says 
     Romano.
       When he wasn't working or playing practical jokes on his 
     colleagues, Matthew Anderson expressed his wit through his 
     writing, says Spec. James Houchin, another of B Company's 
     door gunners. ``He had a really weird sense of humor,'' 
     Houchin says. ``He'd write . . . off-the-wall stories and 
     read them to us for something to do, especially over there 
     [in Somalia].'' He specialized in writing poetry and fiction, 
     with a particular emphasis on science fiction, his colleagues 
     say.
       ``He wanted to be a writer,'' Houchin says. ``He came in 
     the Army for the experience of doing it, for something to 
     write about.'' There's no doubt in his friends' minds that 
     Matthew Anderson would have achieved his literary ambitions 
     had he lived.
       Romano's life was to have one final, fatal link with that 
     of his friend Sept. 25. ``I was supposed to take his flight 
     that night,'' Romano remembers, ``He was tired, and I told 
     him, `No, I'm up, why don't you let me fly it for you?''' But 
     his friend's commitment to the mission overcame his fatigue. 
     ``He wouldn't let me take it. It would have been me instead 
     of him.''


                         CW3 Donovan L. Briley

       As a child growing up in North Little Rock, Ark., CW3 
     Donovan L. Briley, 33, always wanted to climb higher. If he 
     wasn't in a tree or atop a roof, he was looking for one, says 
     his widow, Sharri Briley.
       As an adult, he wouldn't have been happy doing anything 
     other than flying.
       Donovan Briley graduated from flight school in 1985 and 
     joined the Army Reserve, Later that year, he was piloting 
     Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents and state 
     troopers on a marijuana detection mission when the helicopter 
     crashed. Three DEA agents were killed, and Donovan Briley 
     sustained burns and back injuries. But within four months, he 
     was back flying.
       ``He never wanted to stop flying,'' Sharri Briley said. 
     ``He was a better pilot from that experience.''
       In December 1987, Donovan Briley went on active duty a 
     month after his daughter, Jordan, was born. One of four 
     brothers, he was proud of his Cherokee heritage and had an 
     uncommon dedication to his work, Sharri Briley said. ``His 
     main interest was always studying for how he could better 
     himself. He was always trying to be a better pilot.''
       He deployed to Somalia with the 160th Special Operations 
     Aviation Regiment, and was killed Oct. 3 while serving with 
     Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu.
       During his career, Donovan Briley was awarded the 
     Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars, two Purple 
     Hearts, two Air Medals with ``V'' devices, two Air Medals, 
     Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed 
     Forces Expeditionary Medal and Army Service Ribbon.


                         SSgt. Daniel D. Busch

       Early last summer, SSgt. Daniel D. Busch--known as 
     ``Rambusch'' to his high school buddies from Portage Senior 
     High School--took leave to visit his mother in Barabou, Wis. 
     He had a heart-to-heart talk with her to explain that his 
     unit, Army Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., was 
     being deployed on a mission.
       ``He told me his unit was going some place later than 
     summer, but he couldn't say where,'' his mother, Virginia 
     Johnson, says. ``He just told me not to worry. He said, `I 
     know this job is dangerous, but remember that it keeps me 
     close to God. A Christian soldier is just a click away from 
     heaven in this type of work.''
       Virginia Johnson says she understood. ``He was always 
     trying to reassure us, because he could never tell us exactly 
     what he did,'' she says.
       After that talk, they went fishing, something Busch always 
     looked forward to. That visit was the last time Virginia 
     Johnson saw her son. The 25-year-old light weapons infantry 
     specialist was killed Oct. 3 in Mogadishu, Somalia, in the 
     bloodiest single battle for American troops since Vietnam.
       The Army posthumously awarded Daniel Busch the Silver Star 
     and the Purple Heart. A combat veteran of Operation Just 
     Cause in Panama, he received other awards during his seven-
     year Army career, including the Bronze Star, Meritorious 
     Service Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge and National Defense 
     Medal.
       But family members and close friends all say Daniel Busch 
     got his real reward when he took his last breath: The 
     opportunity finally to meet God, someone Busch spent a lot of 
     time talking to.
       Daniel Busch joined the Army right out of high school in 
     1986. Something about serving God, country and fellow man 
     appealed to him, his mother says. But he was still planning 
     on getting out in September 1995.
       His wife, Traci Busch, 23, says that her husband wanted 
     their 14-month-old son, Mitchell, ``to grow up in an 
     atmosphere that had nothing to do with the Army and the 
     constant deployments and moving around.''
       In a letter to his son, dated Sept. 29, Daniel Busch talked 
     of his desire that is son grow up to be a man of morals and 
     values. ``It's very important for you to grow up to be a 
     Christian,'' he wrote. ``Listen to your mother.''
       The family has established a scholarship fund for students 
     who want to pursue a career in conservation. For information, 
     write Virginia Johnson, 707 7th Street, Barabou, Wis. 53913.


                         spec. James m. cavaco

       Spec. James M. Cavaco could have gotten out of deploying to 
     Somalia with his Ranger unit. But his dedication wouldn't let 
     him, says his mother, Barbara Cavaco, James Cavaco was among 
     the American soldiers killed in the Oct. 3-4 firefight in 
     Mogadishu.
       When James Cavaco enlisted in 1991 at age 24, he was a 
     little older than most recruits. He decided that since he 
     couldn't find fulfilling work in the civilian world, he could 
     find it in the Army.
       James Cavaco had an associate's degree from Cape Cod 
     Community College and worked at several jobs, but the sagging 
     New England economy couldn't provide him a job with a future. 
     ``He just made up his mind--`This is it, I've had enough of 
     this, I'm not going to live like this, I'm not going to be a 
     bum, I'm going to be the best I can be and that's it,''' his 
     mother says.
       James Cavaco not only enlisted, he volunteered for the 
     Rangers. Barbara Cavaco says her son quit smoking and 
     drinking and started an exercise program to meet the high 
     Ranger standards.
       Ranger training didn't phase him. ``As brutal as Ranger 
     School was, he loved it,'' Barbara Cavaco says. ``He thought 
     it was great.''
       To break the tension, he fell back on his hobby, playing 
     rock music on the guitar. ``He was really into that; he was 
     quite good,'' his mother says, adding with a laugh, ``He used 
     to drive all the guys crazy in the barracks.''
       When James Cavaco got the word that his company was to 
     deploy to Somalia, he had been notified of a death in the 
     family. Barbara Cavaco still weeps when she recalls her son's 
     selfless response to leaving his unit.
       ``He refused to come home,'' says his mother. ``What he 
     said was, `I have to do what I have to do to effect mission 
     success and to see that my men don't get hurt.'''
       On Oct. 3, James Cavaco was riding in a convoy of Humvees 
     battling through the tight streets of Mogadishu to rescue 
     soldiers in a downed helicopter. He was killed in a rain of 
     automatic weapons fire and grenades. He was posthumously 
     awarded the Bronze Star Medal for valor.
       Barbara Cavaco has no grudge against the Army. ``He had 
     faith in his officers, in his unit, his equipment, his 
     training,'' she says. ``He was totally dedicated. He felt 
     that the men he was with were the best, that the selection 
     process was such that he was surrounded by the best he could 
     be surrounded by.
       ``That was his thing, to do the best he could.''

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