[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E384-E385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO THE 13TH COAST GUARD DISTRICT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 1997

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the brave 
men and women who serve in the U.S. Coast Guard. I extend special 
recognition to the members of the 13th Coast Guard District who so 
capably serve my home district and the people of the Pacific Northwest 
region of our country.
  The beauty and grandeur of the waterways of the Northwest are 
paralleled by the dangerous and unpredictable situations they sometimes 
present. On February 12, 1997, violent weather off the coast of the 
Olympic Peninsula threatened the safety of a sailboat and its 
passengers. In the middle of the night the Coast Guard responded to the 
distress call and saved the passengers. Unfortunately, one of the two 
Coast Guard rescue boats from the Quillayute River Station capsized in 
the strong winds and high waves of the Pacific Ocean. Three crewmembers 
were lost; the fourth survived.

[[Page E385]]

  On behalf of the people of the 7th Congressional District of 
Washington, I extend sincere sympathy to the family and friends of PO 
2d Class David Bosley of San Mateo, CA, PO 3d Class Matthew Schlimme of 
Whitewater, MO, and Seaman Clinton Miniken of Snohomish, WA. We extend 
our best wishes for a rapid and complete recovery to Seaman Apprentice 
Benjamin Wingo of Bremerton, WA.
  To Adm. David Spade, Commander, and all members of the 13th Coast 
Guard District, we extend deep appreciation for the professional 
accomplishment of your mission of search and rescue, vessel traffic 
safety, and marine environmental protection. We too frequently take for 
granted that the Coast Guard is always prepared for an emergency and we 
fail to recognize the vital contribution of your entire command in 
support of economic prosperity and the enjoyment we derive from our 
environment.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record this tribute from the editors 
of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed on February 19, 1997, the 
date of the memorial services:

                       Honoring Heroes of the Sea

       The 23rd verse of the 107th Psalm speaks of ``they that go 
     down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters.''
       The members of the U.S. Coast Guard daily do business in 
     great waters. Often it is the business of saving lives. 
     Sometimes the cost of doing business is the loss of their own 
     lives.
       So the mourning bells will ring today in Seattle and LaPush 
     for three District 13 Coast Guardsmen who died exactly one 
     week ago during the rescue of a couple on a damaged sailboat 
     off the mouth of the Quillayute River. The couple survived, 
     rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter out of Port Angeles. One 
     member of the guard's 44-foot motor lifeboat, Benjamin Wingo, 
     19, of Bremerton, also survived.
       The rest of the crew did not. Killed were Petty Officer 2nd 
     Class David Bosley, 36; Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew 
     Schlimme, 24, and Seaman Clinton Miniken, 22. They died when 
     the lifeboat, a Coast Guard workhorse for 35 years, was 
     repeatedly overturned by 25-foot seas and winds as high as 45 
     knots crossing the Quillayute bar.
       That bar already had a reputation as a killer, claiming the 
     lives of seven crewmembers of the fishing boat Gambler in 
     1990.
       The last time a Coast Guardsman was killed in the line of 
     duty anywhere in the Northwest was in 1991 during the rescue 
     of a capsized fishing boat off the Columbia River.
       During 1996, the 13th Coast Guard District, which includes 
     Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, was credited with 
     coming to the aid of more than 8,000 individuals, saving 381 
     lives and rescuing nearly $267 million in property.
       The Psalm's story has a happy ending. After its sailors 
     ride stormy seas on which they ``mount up to the heavens, 
     they go down again to the depths . . . and are at their wit's 
     end,'' God calms the seas and ``bringeth them unto their 
     desired haven.''
       A week ago the seas were not calmed and the three Coast 
     Guardsmen failed to reach safe haven.
       ``He was my hero,'' said Sandi Bosley of her husband David 
     Bosley, the coxswain of the ill-fated vessel.
       Today we join family and friends in mourning the deaths, 
     and celebrating the lives, of all these heroes.

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