[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12652-S12653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       TRIBUTE TO BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD AUGUSTUS EDWARDS, JR.

 Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, this week our nation bowed in 
humble appreciation and respect to all who have worn the uniforms of 
the U.S. military in recognition of Veterans' Day.
  Today, family and friends gathered in Arlington Cemetery to give our 
final salute to one of those veterans--Brigadier General Richard 
Augustus Edwards, Jr.
  Brigadier General Edwards was born in Smithfield, Virginia and 
graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1939. He joined the 
Army in 1940 and during World War II served in Burma, India and China 
with a mule-drawn artillery unit. He became an expert horseman, and 
competed for the Army in stadium jumping and polo.
  After the war, he attended the Field Artillery School, the Command 
and General Staff College, and the National War College. He served in 
various assignments in Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle 
East. His final combat command was the First Field Force Artillery in 
Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. He retired from military service in 1972 
after serving in the Pentagon as head of officer assignments in the 
Army's Office of Personnel Operations.
  His honors included the Distinguished Service Medal, three Legion of 
Merit awards and the Bronze Star. I was honored to call him my friend.
  At the Virginia Military Institute, which he loved as dearly as his 
family, there is an archway through which he passed daily in his 
formative years as a cadet. It bears this quote attributed to General 
Stonewall Jackson, C.S.A.: ``You may be whatever you resolve to be.''
  General Gus Edwards resolved to be his very best for his country, and 
his life showed that he achieved that goal. How proud the General would 
have been today of his son Richard Augustus Edwards, III as he was at 
his very best and delivered these stirring, heartfelt remarks at his 
father's funeral.
  ``I confess I was taken aback when Dad asked me to say a few words at 
his funeral. His funeral wasn't something we talked about very much. He 
wasn't particularly enthused by the topic. But I think his request had 
something to do with the fact that he was unable to attend his own 
father's funeral. At the time my grandfather died, we were steaming 
across the Atlantic to an assignment in Europe. Dad felt he never 
really got to say goodbye, and I believe it was something that haunted 
him; something that he didn't want me to experience. But for my part, I 
was--and am--daunted by his request, especially in this company. What 
can I possibly say that will be adequate to encompass or define our 
fifty-two year relationship? How can a son try to impart, in any 
consequential way, the meaning of a father's lifetime of lessons and 
love in just a few short minutes?
  I've concluded that, for now, the best thing is to be brief. I will 
say that my father was a man of many parts; like all of us, simple and 
complex at once. I think he showed us his simple side most of the time. 
By simple, I mean unfettered, unaffected and straightforward.
  He had a simple faith. He believed deeply and unequivocally in his 
God.
  He maintained a strong and simple belief in the rightness of truth 
and honor.
  He placed a premium on fidelity, and insisted that loyalty is a two-
way street.
  He lived always by the VMI Honor Code, never to lie, cheat, or steal 
nor countenance those who do.
  He despised expedience and had no patience with the cynicism of 
modern deconstructionists.
  There were not many gray areas in his life.

[[Page S12653]]

  He loved his country. He loved his home state of Virginia and he took 
reasonable pride in his roots, which reached back to Jamestown.
  And most of all, he loved his family. Family was everything to him. 
He adored and revered his parents. His brothers, their wives and 
children; my mother's sisters, their husbands and children, all were 
sources of endless interest, enjoyment and satisfaction to him. He 
shared forty-eight years with my mother, and they were totally devoted 
to one another.
  And how he loved his girls: Augusta, who he was so proud to have bear 
his name; Christine, in whom he took such delight as his first 
grandchild; Annie, the only woman I know who he genuinely didn't mind 
losing arguments to, and Babs, who gave so much of herself to him, 
especially over the last few months. He was one lucky guy. And now he's 
come full circle. As a newly minted second lieutenant in 1940, he 
arrived here at Fort Meyer, his first duty station. He lived just a few 
steps away from this chapel at Quarters 201-A, and he buried old 
soldiers. Now the time has come to return the honor.
  God bless you, Old Soldier.

                          ____________________