[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 153 (Thursday, September 28, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14559-S14560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DEDICATED U.S. SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN

 Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today to thank our brave 
U.S. service men and women who with total dedication serve around the 
globe, but most importantly to pay tribute to four individuals who 
recently died in the service of our country. On August 15, 1995, Chief 
Warrant Officer Michael R. Baker, Chief Warrant Officer Donald J. 
Cunningham, Specialist Crew Chief Robert A. Rogers, and Specialist Crew 
Chief Dale Wood perished when their U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter 
crashed into the sea off the shores of Cyprus. The crew was on a 
routine humanitarian mission to bring supplies and mail to the U.S. 
Embassy in Beirut.
  U.S. service men and women worldwide are frequently responsible for 
humanitarian and lifesaving missions which often go unnoticed by the 
American people. These missions are often fraught with danger 
attributable to health concerns or often insurgent occupation. The 
Cyprus airlift is just one example where our U.S. service men and women 
are tasked to put themselves in harms way.
  In addition to Cyprus being needed as a strategic point to support 
our Middle East efforts it has also become a strategic point for United 
States involvement in several areas of international concern, such as 
counterterrorist measures, narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting, money 
laundering, and international bank fraud. The Cyprus 

[[Page S 14560]]
National Police force has been very cooperative and helpful in our 
international law enforcement efforts. I would like to take this 
opportunity to personally thank Assistant Chief of Police Panikos 
Hadjiloizou. Chief Hadjiloizou has been noted as being one of the 
driving forces in the cooperative international law enforcement effort 
being conducted within Cyprus. Chief Hadjiloizou has worked in close 
coordination with the U.S. Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, 
and other U.S. law enforcement agencies in efforts to stem these 
organized criminal organizations. I wanted to take this opportunity to 
thank Chief Hadjiloizou and hope that this cooperative effort continues 
its successful campaign. I also want to thank Chief Hadjiloizou and the 
men under his command for their extraordinary efforts to locate and 
recover the remains of the Blackhawk crew in order to return them to 
their families. I am sure that I am speaking on behalf of all my 
colleagues when I thank him for all his efforts.
  We all are aware that international criminal activity is expanding 
and the only way to counteract this growth is through cooperative, task 
force involvement between the United States and its international 
neighbors.

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