[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 95 (Monday, June 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8131-S8132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              TRIBUTE TO BRIG. GEN. EDWARD M. FRIEND, JR.

  Mr. HEFLIN. With the recent celebration of Memorial Day, we paused to 
remember all those who gave their lives in service to their county. 
This Memorial Day has been especially heartfelt because of the recent 
anniversary of the end of World War II. Brig. Gen. Edward M. Friend, 
Jr., gave his life in service to his country, not by losing his life on 
the battlefield, but by surviving the misery and horrors of war, and 
returning home to live a life aimed at improving, and bettering his 
community, State, and Nation. He devoted his time, efforts, and 
considerable energy to achieving these goals, living up to a 
longstanding commitment he had to serve others.
  General Friend was a highly decorated World War II veteran, having 
fought in the Normandy and Sicily invasions and the Battle of the 
Bulge, the last attempt by the Third Reich to break through the Allied 
lines moving toward victory in Europe. Those with whom he served 
recognized his bravery and skill. He received the Legion of Merit with 
Cluster, the Croix de Guerre with Palm, the European Campaign Ribbon 
with seven battle stars and the bronze arrowhead for landing in the 
Normandy invasion, and the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.
  General Friend's many accomplishments did not end with his 
outstanding military service. After the war, he returned home to 
Birmingham, AL, to help found the successful law firm of Sirote and 
Permutt, having already graduated from the University of Alabama Law 
School prior to the war. Sirote and Permutt eventually became one of 
the largest and most prestigious law firms in Alabama.
  For General Friend, service to the community meant serving as 
president of the Rotary Club, United Way, the Birmingham Area Council 
of the Boy Scouts of America, the Family Counseling Association, and 
the Metropolitan Arts Council. His organizational and leadership skills 
were recognized by the Young Men's Business Club of Birmingham, which 
named him citizen of the year in 1982 for his accomplishments as chair 
of the United Way Campaign. It is not in any way an exaggeration to say 
that he excelled at everything he undertook.
  The many awards General Friend received during his long life are 
testaments to his hard work and achievements. He was the recipient of 
the Alabama Arthritis Foundation Humanitarian Award and received 
honorary doctor of laws degrees from Birmingham-Southern College and 
the University of Alabama. He was the Birmingham Bar Association Lawyer 
of the Year in 1980, received the Educational Advocate Award from the 
Birmingham Public School System, and was inducted into the Alabama 
Academy of Honor, and Who's Who in America.
  While Ed Friend led a life defined by many varied interests and 
accomplishments, he had a true passion for the law. He was one of the 
Nation's great lawyers, specializing in the field of tax law. One of 
America's great trial lawyers, Frances H. Hare, Sr., once told me that 
Ed, who was his personal tax lawyer, was the best tax practitioner he 
knew.
  E.M., as he was known to a great number of his friends, was vitally 
interested in legal education and the improvement of his profession. 
His service as president of the University of Alabama Law School 
Foundation sparked an awareness and the beginning of substantial 
financial assistance to the law school. His tenure as president of the 
Brimingham Bar Association likewise initiated many years of 
improvements in the legal profession. His leadership and participation 
in the judicial reform movement in Alabama during the 1970's resulted 
in a vastly improved State court system. His concern and achievements 
in providing legal assistance for the indigent resulted in his founding 
of the Birmingham Legal Aid Society and serving as its first president. 
He was also on the board of directors of the National Legal Aid and 
Defendant Association. At a relatively early stage of his career, Ed 
Friend joined the cause of improving race relations in Alabama, and 
throughout his life, did a great deal to better those relations.
  He was a great family man. He and his delightful, beautiful wife 
Hermione were constantly sought out by friends for their company and 
companionship. Throughout Herme's period of prolonged illness, her 
husband proved to be a devoted companion. This devotion was true of the 
entire Friend family, as their children Eddie and Ellen at all times 
displayed great loyalty to their mother and father.
  General Friend gave of himself tirelessly and selflessly in ways that 
are difficult to describe in words. The impact of his work has been 
felt by those who knew him, worked with him, served with him, and 
benefited from his generosity. He will long be remembered for the basic 
good he did--and the dignity with which he did it--as it continues to 
touch the lives of others in the Birmingham area and throughout the 
State. He once said during an interview, ``Everyone should strive to 
make the world a better place. The purpose of life is not to be happy. 
The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to 
[[Page S8132]] have it make some difference that you lived at all.''
  When I think of my great friend and how he described what life meant 
to him, I am reminded of the Ralph Waldo Emerson verse, ``Success.'' It 
goes:

                                Success

     To laugh often and much;
     To win the respect of intelligent people and affection of 
           children
     To earn the appreciation of honest critics . . .
     To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
     To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
     a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
     To know even one life has breathed easier because you have 
           lived;
     This is to have succeeded.

  If Emerson was correct about the definition of success, then Ed 
Friend, Jr., succeeded enough for many, many lifetimes. In knowing Ed, 
I was always struck by how his simple but eloquent family name--
``Friend''--so defined who he was an how he lived. No other epitaph 
would be needed than simply his name--Friend. He was a friend to his 
community, State, country, profession, and to the many, many 
individuals fortunate enough to have known him over the years.
  I extend my sincerest condolences to Ed's wife, Hermione, and to 
their children Frances Ellen and Edward M. III in the wake of this 
tremendous loss, and ask unanimous consent that a copy of the June 6, 
1995, Birmingham News tribute to Ed be printed in the Record.
  There being no objections, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                             General Friend

       ``He left his imprint on all segments of our society. He 
     was selfless.''
       Those two short lines from Birmingham-Southern College 
     President Neal Berte sum up well the life of longtime civic 
     activist Edward M. Friend Jr., was passed away Monday at the 
     age of 83.
       You'd be hard pressed to discover something Gen. Friend 
     attempted that he did not excel in.
       As a soldier, he received numerous battlefield decorations 
     for his efforts in the Normandy invasion and in the Battle of 
     the Bulge--including the Bronze Star with Cluster, the Croix 
     de Guerre with Palm and the Legion of Merit. Later he was 
     named a brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve. Over this 
     past weekend Gov. Fob James appointed him a major general in 
     the Alabama National Guard.
       As an attorney, he came back to Birmingham after World War 
     II to help form what would become one of the state's largest 
     law firms.
       But as a community leader, he was unbelievable. Among the 
     civic organizations he served as chairman or president of at 
     some point were: the Rotary Club, the Birmingham Bar 
     Association, the United Way, the Birmingham Legal Aid 
     Society, the Birmingham Area Council of the Boy Scouts of 
     America, the Family Counseling Association, the Metropolitan 
     Arts Council, the University of Alabama President's Cabinet 
     and Temple Emanu-El.
       In his spare time, he even occasionally penned a letter to 
     the editor about some community problem or effort.
       During the recent Memorial Day holiday an aging soldier 
     interviewed about his war service responded that it changed 
     his whole life. Thereafter, he said, he worked hard to always 
     show that he was worthy to have been one of the survivors.
       Who knows if that same sort of experience colored Gen. 
     Friend's life?
       To say that his was a worthy one for Birmingham is an 
     understatement.
     

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