[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S970-S971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SENATE RESOLUTION 49--EXPRESSING THE CONDOLENCES OF THE SENATE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON (for herself and Mr. Gramm) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                               S. Res. 49

       Whereas the Senate has learned with profound sorrow and 
     deep regret of the passing of our colleague, the Honorable 
     Frank Tejeda;
       Whereas Representative Tejeda has spent 4 years in the 
     House of Representatives;
       Whereas Representative Tejeda served his country honorably 
     in the United States Marine Corps from 1963 to 1967; and
       Whereas Representative Tejeda was awarded the Purple Heart, 
     the Silver Star, the Commandant's Trophy, the Marine Corps 
     Association Award, and the colonel Phil Yeckel

[[Page S971]]

     Award for ``the best combined record in leadership, 
     academics, and physical fitness'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) when the Senate adjourns today, it adjourn as a further 
     mark of admiration and respect to the memory of our departed 
     friend and colleague, who left his mark on Texas and our 
     Nation; and
       (2) the Senate extends to his family our thoughts and 
     prayers during this difficult time.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall communicate this 
     resolution to the House of Representatives, and shall 
     transmit an enrolled copy to the family of Representative 
     Frank Tejeda.

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I have a resolution that I am 
submitting on behalf of myself and Senator Gramm. I have sent it to the 
desk and I ask that it be held and that it be cleared by the close of 
business today.
  Mr. President, the resolution is commending and is in honor of a 
fallen comrade. He was a Member of the House, a member of the Texas 
delegation, Frank Tejeda.
  Frank Tejeda was a hero, a patriot. He served his country in every 
possible way. Frank Tejeda dropped out of high school at the age of 17 
to join the Marine Corps. He liked to tell the story that he thought he 
would have a couple of months to sit around and dream about being in 
the Marine Corps. And they said to this young 17-year-old, ``We would 
love to have you. Here are your tickets to California, you leave this 
afternoon.'' So he was off on his life adventure in the Marine Corps.
  Frank Tejeda went to Vietnam. He was a hero in Vietnam. Frank Tejeda 
won not only the Purple Heart but the Silver Star for his heroic 
performance in going onto a battlefield that was riddled with bullets 
flying all around him to save a comrade.
  He was always there when his country called. After he came back, the 
high school dropout went to college and graduated. He graduated not 
only from St. Mary's University, but also went to law school at the 
University of California at Berkley and received his law degree. Then, 
he got graduate degrees from both Harvard and Yale. He served in the 
Texas Senate--I knew him there--and then he came to Congress, and we 
were able to serve together here.
  Frank was, in every sense, the truest Texan. I was privileged to be 
at his funeral yesterday in south San Antonio, at St. Leo's Catholic 
Church. You could see the essence of what Frank was. You could see it 
in the people that he had gone to church with all his life. You could 
see it in the people who eulogized him, that had grown up with him, and 
who now are also leading citizens of San Antonio. You could see it in 
the people who were holding signs along the road between the church and 
Fort Sam Houston, where he was to be buried with full military honors.
  No one will be able to fill the shoes of a great Texan like Frank 
Tejeda. He will have a successor. We will have someone that will 
represent San Antonio and Texas in the U.S. Congress. But you don't 
fill the shoes of a person who never forgot from where he came, who was 
always there for the people that he grew up with and that he 
represented in the U.S. Congress, to make sure that they were part of 
the great American dream.
  He was there for our military, he was there for our veterans. I 
remember when I was working to make sure that the veterans' pay came 
when Government was shut down. Frank Tejeda was right there trying to 
help me make sure that that happened. When the people at Kelly Air 
Force Base learned that their base was going to be shut down, with 
privatization as an option that was given by BRAC, Frank Tejeda and I 
rolled up our sleeves to go to work for privatization, because we 
wanted the good people at Kelly Air Force Base to be able to keep those 
jobs, and because we knew it was in the best interest of our country 
that they keep those jobs because they are the trained work force.
  I think the most important thing I could say about anyone with whom I 
served in Congress is, if we are in a fight, he was someone I would 
want in the trenches with me.
  That describes Frank Tejeda. He proved himself on the real 
battlefield in Vietnam. He proved that he was someone you would want in 
the trenches with you when you are fighting for your life, for your 
country, and he proved it in so many ways in his service in the U.S. 
Congress.
  I will miss Frank Tejeda as a friend. America will miss him as a 
patriot and a hero. I would like for this resolution to be passed today 
when we close the Senate, and I would like to close the Senate in honor 
of former Congressman Frank Tejeda, who was buried yesterday at Fort 
Sam Houston with full military honors.

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