[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 102 (Thursday, July 17, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1447-E1448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE EXPLOSION OF TWA FLIGHT 800; REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS AND FAMILY, 
 PAYING TRIBUTE TO OUR COURAGEOUS AND CARING VOLUNTEERS ON LONG ISLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 17, 1997

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues in the 
U.S. House of Representatives to join me in prayerful remembrance of 
the 230 people who lost their lives when TWA flight 800 crashed off the 
south shore of Long Island, near the small town of East Moriches, 1 
year ago today.
  I also ask that all Americans join us as we pray for the families and 
friends of the passengers and crew members who perished in the crash, 
that they might gain some measure of solace and understanding about 
their profound and so very public loss.
  In one tragic moment on an otherwise ordinary summer evening, the 
lives of the surviving families and friends were plunged into a tumult 
of grief and confusion. We cannot imagine the soul-wrenching heartache 
and numbing pain they faced in the minutes and days after news of their 
loss reached them. In the months that followed leading up to this 
anniversary, some have thankfully found healing grace they need in the 
personal bonds forged with the other surviving families.
  We all grieve for their loss, but perhaps what still weighs most 
heavily on our hearts is that even after a year, there is still no 
clear answer as to what caused TWA flight 800 to explode in mid-air 
over the Atlantic Ocean. Since that fateful July evening, there have 
been several studies conducted and recommendations made about the ways 
we can make airline travel safer. Today, there is something that we, as 
a compassionate Congress, can do to spare the families any further 
pain. We can move quickly to approve the bill offered by our esteemed 
colleague from Pennsylvania, Mr. McDade, a bill that corrects an 
egregious injustice that prevents the survivors of this or any plane 
crash over international waters to seek compensation for the pain, 
suffering and loss of a loved one, as the family of other airline 
disasters may do. This is a simple matter of fairness and small measure 
of justice that we can provide, in the memory of those who died aboard 
TWA flight 800.
  Though the headlines tell us that 230 human beings lost their lives 
in this crash, they are more than just numbers. Each one of those 230 
were someone's son or daughter, wife or husband, brother, sister, and 
friend. And each of those abroad TWA flight 800 has a story. I would 
like to tell you about a few of my Long Island neighbors who perished 
abroad TWA flight 800.

  Such as Eric and Virginia Holst, of Manorville. Just a few days away 
from their own sixth wedding anniversary they were on their way to 
Eric's brother Troy's Paris wedding. Eric was a dentist with a practice 
in the town of Center Moriches, just a few miles from the crash site. 
With special talent for easing the anxiety of a child's first trip to 
the dentist, Eric Holst decorated his office with the cards and 
greetings from his youngest patients, who adoring called him ``Dr. 
Eric.'' His parents, John and Joan Holst live in nearly St. James.
  Virginia Holst was a partner with her mother, Luz Mari Pelaez, in a 
skin-care and nutritional products business that she operated out of 
her home. After having already bravely overcome thyroid cancer, 
Virginia, in the words of her mother,``got so strong, so full of energy 
and life, it was amazing. She had fought that war, and she won.''
  Or the story of Beverly and Tracy Anne Hammer. Having just recently 
passed her stockbroker's exam, Beverly overcame her fear of flying to 
join her daughter Tracy Anne in Paris, where the veterinary student was 
to deliver a research paper. Richard Hammer did not join his wife and 
daughter so that they could spend time together on a once-in-a-lifetime 
vacation in Europe. Today, he lives in East Hampton, Long Island.
  At age 37, Donna Griffith had just begun a new life for herself. The 
Westhampton Beach native decided to celebrate her recent college 
graduation by taking her first trip to Europe. The Brooklyn resident 
was to start classes at New York University's graduate school after her 
return.
  Rico Puhlmann was an internationally renowned fashion photographer 
who split his

[[Page E1448]]

time between the bright lights of Manhattan and the quiet countryside 
of Water Mill, Long Island. A child film star in his native Germany, 
his oeuvre included 125 cover photographs for Harper's Bazaar and 
countless other covers for Gentlemen's Quarterly, Glamour, and Vogue.
  In these tragic moments that TWA Flight 800 fell out of the sky, the 
communities of East Moriches and Montoursville, PA were inextricably 
linked. Aboard the flight were 16 high school students and five adult 
chaperons from the French club at Montoursville High School. Just 
minutes earlier, the students had embarked on the trip of their young 
lives as they headed off to Paris to test their hard-earned mastery of 
the French language and taste the rich French culture. Sadly, for the 
parents, family, and friends who said goodbye to them just a few 
minutes earlier, they never returned.
  Though we can never forget those we lost aboard TWA flight 800, we 
can be proud of the many shining examples of humanity amidst this 
calamitous occurrence. The many local efforts on behalf of the search 
and rescue mission demonstrated to the entire world how Long Islanders 
respond in difficult times. It's sad that it takes these tragic events 
for use to see how selfless and enduring the human spirit can be.
  From the moment the first calls came in from South Shore residents 
who witnessed the fiery explosion, hundreds of emergency service 
workers, Suffolk County police officers, firefighters, ambulance 
workers, Coast Guard personnel and units from the 106th New York Air 
National Guard unit in Westhampton Beach rushed to the scene in East 
Moriches, in a desperate search for survivors. Sadly, there were none.
  Once the place crash had been confirmed, Suffolk County officials 
immediately went to a level two alert, notifying hospitals and public 
safety agencies. In the course of responding to the crash, Suffolk 
County and the towns of Brookhaven and Southampton incurred nearly $6 
million in equipment and overtime expenses. Though these huge costs 
drained the small budgets of these local governments, County Executive 
Robert Gaffney and Town Supervisors Felix Grucci and Vincent Cannuscio 
never hesitated to commit their official resources to the rescue and 
recovery effort.
  We can be most proud of the hundreds of volunteers of all stripes who 
left their homes in the dark of night to lend a hand to the effort. 
They included ambulance companies from 15 communities, volunteer 
firefighters from a dozen fire departments and even local residents in 
their own pleasure boats who pitched in to assist the fruitless search 
for survivors and recovery of plane parts.
  I would also like to give notice to the men and women of the Coast 
Guard Group Moriches, at East Moriches. Led by Comdr. Elmo Peters, 
these Coast Guard personnel performed with the utmost professionalism 
and courage in handling the extensive search and rescue operations, and 
they deserve our thanks and prayers as well. Incredibly, just a few 
months earlier there was a proposal to eliminate the Coast Guard Rescue 
Unit at East Moriches, a plan that thankfully was never approved.
  As we have come to expect when calamity strikes any corner of the 
world, Red Cross volunteers can be found, comforting the stricken while 
giving aid to the rescuers. From the early moments of this tragedy, Red 
Cross volunteers from across the New York metropolitan region were on 
the scene, delivering food and drink, medical care, cots, blankets, and 
tents. In the first week after the crash, the Red Cross served more 
than 19,000 meals to emergency workers, the media and others at the 
scene. Throughout this ordeal, these Red Cross volunteers showed once 
again why they are truly angels of mercy.
  Red Cross grief counselors comforted the victim's family dealing with 
the sudden, tragic loss of a loved one. They arranged to have needed 
prescriptions delivered to where the families stayed, brought coloring 
books and games for the children and even provided notebooks for family 
members who wanted to express their feelings by keeping a journal. 
Volunteers also traveled with the families as they attended memorial 
services at Suffolk County's Smith Point Park and at JFK Airport.

  There are so many others who deserve recognition for their tireless 
efforts in response to this tragic event. They include the New York 
City and State Police departments, Red Cross volunteers from throughout 
the New York metro region, the Suffolk County medicial examiners 
office, the Brookhaven Ambulance Corps, and many local churches and 
organizations, too numerous to mention.
  The tremendous outpouring of love and support these great Americans 
showed in this desperate time of need provide us with one of the few 
measures of solace that we can take from this tragedy. All of us on 
Long Island should take special pride in the efforts shown by our local 
disaster officials and emergency personnel and the hundreds who 
volunteered their time to help find survivors and collect debris. 
Though our hearts break with the sorrow we feel for the victims and 
their grieving loved ones, we can be proud of these wonderful displays 
of humanity.
  All of those emergency workers and caring volunteers responded to 
this tragedy in different ways, each with something special to offer. 
Some came to aid the recovery of victims or gather pieces of the 
wreckage, while others came to support those rescue workers with food 
and equipment. At the Coast Guard station, mental health professionals 
provided around the clock trauma counseling to help the crash-site 
personnel cope with the difficult task of recovering victims from the 
wreckage.
  So many wanted to come to the scene in East Moriches and offer their 
help. But the only thing for them to do was to pray for the victims and 
their grieving loved ones. Ultimately, prayer was the most important 
thing they could offer. Gathering at several memorial services, our 
friends and neighbors on Long Island came to pray for those 230 victims 
and for their loved ones, who desperately needed time and God's healing 
power to overcome their deep sorrow and devastating loss.
  The first memorial service was held in Montoursville just after the 
crash, as the citizens of this small Pennsylvania town said goodbye to 
their sons and daughters, their classmates, friends, and neighbors.
  The Sunday following the crash, there were simultaneous memorial 
services held in East Moriches and at John F. Kennedy Airport in 
Queens, along with the thousands of people across the country who 
gathered in their own houses of worship to remember those who died in 
the sudden, furious explosion.
  At Soldiers and Sailors Park in East Moriches, more than 400 people 
gathered to pay their final respects to those 230 passengers and crew 
members, including their neighbors Eric and Virginia Holst. The 
feelings of grief and loss were palpable among the mourners, but as 
Rev. James McDonald, who married Eric and Virginia 6 years ago, 
explained, despair will not vanquish their faith and love. As Reverend 
McDonald said: ``Nothing can separate us from the life of Christ, not 
even a broken heart. Are we hurting? Yes. Broken? Yes. Destroyed? 
Never.''
  At JFK, more than 2,000 mourners, many of them family and friends 
awaiting news of loved ones, gathered in a sad, gray airplane hangar to 
say their goodbyes. One by one, the names of the 230 dead were read 
aloud as family and friends reached out to console each other in 
French, Hebrew, Italian, and English. As Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the 
New York Board of Rabbis so eloquently put it: ``We may be of different 
bodies, but in this community today, we are of one soul.''
  Mr. Speaker, as we stand here today a full year later, let us keep in 
our prayers the 230 lives that were lost on July 17, 1996. Just as 
importantly, let us remember the family, friends, and spouses that were 
left behind to cope with this senseless tragedy. May God bless every 
one of them.

                          ____________________