[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E965-E966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        CAPT. RANDOLPH L. GUZMAN

                                 ______


                            HON. BILL BAKER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 9, 1995
  Mr. BAKER of California. Mr. Speaker, the entire Nation continues to 
mourn the tragedy in Oklahoma City. This cowardly and vicious act was 
an assault on our country, a wanton act of political terrorism and 
social destruction.
  It was also an act in which dozens of individual lives were brutally 
ended. From small children to senior Federal employees, we have 
witnessed the heartbreaking spectacle of battered bodies carried out of 
the Murrah Federal Building, one by one.
  One of these bodies was covered with an American flag. It was that of 
Marine Capt. Randolph L. Guzman, a native of Castro Valley, CA, a city 
in the East Bay area I am privileged to represent in Congress.
  Captain Guzman was the recruiting station executive officer in the 
Murrah Building. A marine since 1983, he was a graduate of California 
State University at Hayward and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 
1988.
  A participant in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, his service 
included tours in Virginia, Hawaii, Japan, and finally in Oklahoma. 
Among his many decorations are the Navy 
[[Page E966]] and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Combat Action 
Ribbon, and the Navy Unit Commendation. To say that Captain Guzman 
served faithfully is to understate the obvious. His presence in the 
Marine Corps was an honor for our country.
  When Marine Reserve 1st Sgt. Michael S. Curtain and several former 
marines carried out Captain Guzman's flag-draped body from the rubble 
in Oklahoma City, all work around the site stopped. According to Mr. 
Curtain:

       Cranes had stopped. It was completely quiet. Rescuers 
     stopped and looked; people had lined the street outside the 
     building. Everyone was watching in silence as we brought our 
     Marine out * * * You could tell the veterans. They were the 
     ones with tears in their eyes.

  It is with enormous pride that a grateful Nation today salutes Capt. 
Randolph Guzman and his service to his country. All California mourns 
the loss of this sterling young man, but does so with the knowledge 
that this son of the East Bay lived his life with a commitment to duty, 
honor and country that stands in the finest tradition of the Marines 
Corps. His life was a testimony to the Marine Corps motto: ``Semper 
Fidelis,'' always faithful.
  To Captain Guzman's parents, Erlinda Guzman and Rudolph Guzman, I 
offer my deepest sympathy. There is nothing I can say that can lessen 
their sense of loss. But I can assure them of America's abiding pride 
in their son and encourage them with the truth that the One the Bible 
calls ``the God of all comfort'' will be there for them through all the 
days ahead.
  May God guide and bless the Guzman family, and may He guide and bless 
our beloved country.


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