[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H14140-H14141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN HONOR OF GEN. MAX THURMAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ensign). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery] is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a friend 
and one of this country's great patriots, Gen. Maxwell R. Thurman. He 
died December 1 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington after 
a long battle with leukemia.
  He was called a visionary and an innovator for the work he did to 
help save the All-Volunteer Army after the Vietnam war. In the early 
1980's, we were not getting qualified young people into our Armed 
Forces. More than 50 percent of recruits at that time were reading on 
the eighth grade level. General Thurman saw the problem and went to 
work to solve it. He created the recruiting slogan still used by the 
U.S. Army: ``Be all you can be,'' as well as a program that stressed 
how recruits could learn a skill and realize their fullest potential. 

[[Page H 14141]]
It succeeded in bringing more motivated and higher educated young men 
and women into the military.
  General Thurman was one of the earliest supporters of the Montgomery 
GI bill when many at the Pentagon and the White House opposed it. He 
saw immediately that it would help in recruiting and retaining topnotch 
young people, and history has proved us right on the value of the 
program.
  He was also very proud of the fact that he commanded the U.S. 
invasion of Panama that ousted Gen. Manuel Noriega in 1989. It was the 
first major combat operation performed at night by American forces, a 
move which reduced U.S. casualties and helped set an example for future 
night-fighting tactics used in the Persian Gulf war.
  I knew Max Thurman, and worked with him, for more than 20 years. I 
know firsthand how committed he was to the military life and to the 
country he loved so much. He was truly one of our best and brightest. 
We will miss our old friend.

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