[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 199 (Thursday, December 14, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO GENERAL MAXWELL R. THURMAN

                                 ______


                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 13, 1995

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart to announce that 
our country has lost a great soldier and friend, General Maxwell Reid 
Thurman. General Thurman, a soldier whose career spanned more than 37 
years, died on December 1, 1995, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center 
after a 5-year struggle with leukemia.
  General Thurman was a principal architect of the all-volunteer Army 
and served as the Commander-in Chief of United States Southern Command 
during Operation Just Cause in December 1989. He learned that he had an 
aggressive form of leukemia in July 1990, and retired from the Army 8 
months later in March, 1991.
  Born in High Point, NC, General Thurman attended North Carolina State 
University, graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1953. 
While at North Carolina State, he enrolled in the Reserve Officer 
Training Corps and was commissioned an officer in the Ordnance Corps. 
Early in his career, General Thurman applied for, and received, a 
regular army commission in the field artillery. His professional 
military education included attendance at the ordnance and field 
artillery basic courses, the field artillery advanced course, the Army 
Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College.
  General Thurman held a variety of staff and command positions, both 
in Europe and the United States. In Europe, he commanded light 
artillery and rocket units with the 11th Airborne Division, and he saw 
service in the 1958 Lebanon Crisis. He served in Vietnam, first as an 
intelligence advisor, and later as commander, 2d battalion, 35th field 
artillery, during the Tet Offensive. Returning to the United States, he 
commanded the 82d Airborne Division Artillery. Other assignments 
included duty as an instructor at the U.S. Military Academy, the Army 
Field Artillery School, and the Army Training and Doctrine Command.
  In 1979, General Thurman was assigned as the Commanding General of 
the U.S. Recruiting Command. It was during this assignment that he 
helped shaped the post-Vietnam Army and helped transform it into the 
high quality, ready-to-flight force we have today. Under his 
leadership, General Thurman advertised the Army as a place where men 
and women with lots of drive and potential could be all that they could 
be, not a safe haven for underachievers. This is still the Army's basic 
recruiting slogan: ``Be All That You Can Be.''
  Promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 1981, General Thurman 
became the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel for the U.S. Army. In 
1983 he was promoted to full general and appointed Vice Chief of Staff 
of the Army. He assumed command of the U.S. Training and Doctrine 
Command at Fort Monroe, VA in 1987. During these years it was largely 
through General Thurman's inspiration and leadership that the Army's 
new recruiting and training programs were implemented and the modern, 
volunteer professional Army fully came into existence.
  In September 1989, General Thurman was named Commander-in-Chief of 
the U.S. Southern Command, responsible for all American military 
national security policy and strategy in the region. It was under his 
leadership that the United States prepared and launched Operation 
``Just Cause'' in Panama, which successfully removed dictator Manuel 
Noriega, and helped restore democracy to that strategic nation.
  General Thurman held numerous awards and honors. His U.S. military 
decorations include two awards of the Defense Distinguished Service 
Medal; two Distinguished Service Medals; two Legions of Merit; the 
Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device (with Oak Leaf Cluster); four Air 
Medals; Meritorious Service Medals; Army Commendation Medals; and the 
Joint Service Achievement Medal. Additionally, General Thurman was 
decorated by the Governments of France, Germany, and Venezuela. He was 
a master parachutist and held the Army General Staff and the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff identification badges.
  Since his retirement, General Thurman has been a Senior Fellow of the 
Association of the United States Army's Institute of Land Warfare and 
an executive-in-residence at North Carolina State University. General 
Thurman also served on the President's Commission on Women in the Armed 
Forces and the President's Commission on Panama. In 1992, he received 
the North Carolina Award for Public Service for a native North 
Carolinian living outside the State. In 1995, General Thurman was 
awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from North Carolina 
State University.
  Mr. Speaker, General Thurman was the epitome of selfless service to 
nation. He was always enthusiastic, and unstoppable tinkerer, sometimes 
abrasive, and yet humorous and warm when the pressure was off. He was a 
leader who truly made a difference, and his legacy can be found in the 
magnificent men and women who make up our trained and ready Army. He 
has our thanks--he served our Nation well. We will truly miss his 
leadership and friendship.

                          ____________________