[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 90 (Thursday, July 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7898-S7899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO MAJOR GENERAL MARION CARL

Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, when General George Marshall was 
asked during World War II if America had a secret weapon, he said, 
``Yes. Our secret weapon is the best darned kids in the world.''
  This morning, Mr. President, I traveled to Arlington Cemetery to 
attend the funeral service of one of those best darned kids. I speak of 
Major General Marion Carl, who was acknowledged as one of America's 
greatest military aviators, and who was tragically murdered in his 
Oregon home last week during an attempted robbery.
  I did not have the privilege of knowing General Carl. But one cannot 
read the words of those who did know him or the summaries of his long 
and courageous service to our country, which included stints as a World 
War II fighter ace, a military test pilot, and a squadron commander in 
Vietnam, without concluding that General Carl was a true American hero.
  I join with all Oregonians in expressing my condolences to General 
Carl's wife, Edna, and to their two children and grandchildren. I also 
ask that an article from the Oregonian summarizing the memorial service 
held for General Carl in Roseburg be printed in the Record following my 
remarks.
  More that any words I can offer, this article summarizes the life and 
career of a man who will always be remembered for his humility, his 
loyalty, his bravery, and his service to his country.
  The article follows:

          Mourners Pay Final Respects to Slain Oregon War Hero

                           (By Janet Filips)

       Roseburg.--In a dignified funeral that offered a quiet but 
     stirring mix of the patriotic and the private, grieving 
     family, friends and admirers bid a sad farewell to one of 
     America's greatest pilots Monday morning--a man who lived 
     with an uncommon combination of

[[Page S7899]]

     heroics, humility and humor until he was slain during a 
     bungled burglary June 28.
       No hourlong funeral can capture the fullness of a long and 
     distinguished life such as that of Maj. Gen. Marion E. Carl, 
     82. But it can give telling glimpses, starting with slides 
     depicting the tall, lean Carl with airplanes and his smiling, 
     handsome family.
       A Marine Corps brass quintet played ``Ruffles and 
     Flourishes,'' ``Danny Boy'' and the ``Marine Corps Hymn.'' 
     Vocalists movingly sang ``America the Beautiful'' and ``A 
     Wing and a Prayer.'' A pair of white-gloved Marines in dress 
     blue uniforms guarded the flag-draped casket, spotlighted on 
     the shadowed stage.
       In it, the fallen general wore the same style of dress 
     blues, with ribbons discreetly signifying his medals. And 
     in the pocket over his heart, his wife, Edna Carl, had 
     tucked his favorite photos of her, their two children and 
     two grandchildren.
       Most revealing of all, longtime military buddies spoke of 
     the incomparable Marion Carl before a diverse crowd of about 
     750 who came to Umpqua Community College's Jacoby Auditorium 
     to pay their final respects to Carl, a native Oregonian drawn 
     to studying aircraft and pushing boundaries on behalf of his 
     country in wartime and peace.
       ``Marion was a real hero. I'm not talking about purple-
     haired ballplayers,'' said eulogist Joseph R. Rees, a friend 
     of Carl for 53 years. ``He set a benchmark for youth, for all 
     of us.''
       Despite a career of record-setting accomplishments, said 
     Rees, humility was Carl's byword, integrity his daily 
     password and loyalty the way of his friendship. Carl had the 
     attributes people hope to find in their sons and daughters 
     and political leaders, said Rees, who turns 76 today.
       Carl could rapidly assess situations, then take decisive 
     action without being hobbled by politics or fear.
       Those traits are not to be mistaken for recklessness, added 
     Ress, who lives about seven miles up North Bank Road from the 
     Carl home.
       ``Marion knew where fear belonged,'' Rees said. ``He just 
     didn't let it get in the way when he knew something had to be 
     done. Now, we saw that, just a few nights ago.''
       A week ago, Carl, who was in the middle stages of 
     Alzheimer's had been awakened by shouting in his living room 
     and stumbled into the middle of a burglary. He was fatally 
     shot after lunging at a young man who had just fired a short 
     at his wife. Sunday afternoon, the suspected killer was 
     apprehended in Pasadena, Calif.
       A second eulogist, Brigadier Gen. Joseph H. Foss, is a 
     Congressional Medal of Honor holder and the Marine's top ace 
     of all time, and 26 enemy planes to his credit. But Foss, 83, 
     of Scottsdale, Ariz., lauded Carl as the top aviator.
       Foss recalled his first ride, as a cadet in 1940, with Carl 
     as an instructor in Pensacola, Florida. ``He did everything 
     with that airplane that an airplane could possibly do for 
     1\1/2\ hours. I was green,'' Foss said. ``From that day on, I 
     respected him as the No. 1 pilot in the World. If young folks 
     would set their eyes on people like that, we wouldn't have 
     punks like the one who ended his life.''
       Amid occasional sobs and sniffle from the mourners, Foss 
     drew applause when he blasted current school studies of 
     history that replace the study of pivotal American battles 
     with ``a dumb thing called political correctness.''
       Col. Hap Langstaff, 77, of Sacramento, described Carl's 
     ``astounding'' knowledge of aircraft, his uncanny ability to 
     track animals in the wild and his willingness to bend the 
     rules to sneak in hunting trips in Eastern Oregon while 
     stationed in Washington, D.C., in 1959. He shared stories of 
     climbing into a T-28 aircraft on Fridays after work, 
     flying all night to Mitchell, buzzing a narrow dirt road 
     to clear the cattle off, then landing on a ranch.
       ``We always got deer,'' Langstaff said, ``Back in 
     Washington, D.C., Marion had difficulty explaining how cow 
     manure got on the landing gear.''
       After the laughter, Langstaff's voice broke as he said, 
     with a salute: ``I'm going to miss you, Marion.''
       At the service's end, the crowd stepped outside for a 
     stirring farewell: The sharp rat-a-tat of a 21-gun salute, 
     taps played by two buglers, and a fly-by--against warm blue 
     skies--of a pair of vintage planes from the Tillamook Air 
     Museum: the F4U Corsair and the F4F Wildcat.
       The funeral drew top military men and former co-workers 
     from around the country, including one of Carl's former aides 
     in Vietnam.
       ``I'm so damn angry, and I'm sad, but I'm so grateful for 
     all the time we spent together,'' said Lyle Prouse, 59, now a 
     pilot for Northwest Airlines and an Atlanta resident. ``He 
     was not a typical general. We were always out there in the 
     middle of things. He stepped in and did whatever needed to be 
     done, no matter the consequences.''
       Prouse and his wife rearranged their schedules to be at the 
     funeral, he said, ``just because I loved him so much.''
       Whenever Maj. Gen. Ken Houghton of La Jolla, Calif., hears 
     the famed saying from Iwo Jima, ``Uncommon valor is a common 
     virtue,'' he is reminded of Carl. ``This,'' he said, 
     ``epitomizes Gen. Carl.''
       After a gathering at the Roseburg Country Club, Carl's 
     casket was escorted to the Eugene Airport later Monday 
     afternoon, where it was flown to Washington, DC, for 
     internment Thursday, with full military honors, in Arlington 
     National Cemetery in Virginia.

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