[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 119 (Thursday, September 10, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICHARD A. BURPEE, USAF-RETIRED

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                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 10, 1998

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
extraordinary individual, Lieutenant General Richard A. Burpee, USAF 
(Retired) on the eve of his retirement from the Retired Officers 
Association, which has its headquarters in my district in northern 
Virginia. As I reviewed General Burpee's career, in preparing this 
tribute, I see that in one way or another, Dick has spent virtually his 
entire adult life either in or working for the uniformed services.
  Born in Delton, Michigan, he entered the Air Force and earned his 
pilot's wings in 1955. For the next six years, General Burpee was an 
instructor pilot at Bryan and Reese Air Force Bases in Texas. The next 
few years he served in various staff assignments until January 1967, 
when he entered the F-4 Program at MacDill Air Force Base Florida, 
where he served as an aircraft commander. He transferred to the 
Republic of Vietnam in August 1967 and served at Cam Rahn Bay Air Base 
until September 1968 as a flight commander in the 391st Tactical 
Fighter Squadron. During his tour in Vietnam, he flew 336 combat 
missions in the F-4 aircraft.
  Following his combat tour, Dick had a succession of challenging 
assignments, each entailing greater responsibility. Among these were 
three assignments in Headquarters USAF, in the Pentagon, in operational 
test and evaluation, director of operations and the assistant director 
of plans and operations. General Burpee also served in a number of 
command assignments including, commander of the 509th Bombardment Wing, 
Strategic Air Command, 1974-75; commander of the 19th Air Division, 
Strategic Air Command, 1977-79; commander of Oklahoma City Air 
Logistics Center, 1983-85 and commander of 15th Air Force, Strategic 
Air Command, from 1988 until his retirement in 1990. In between these 
assignments, he found time to earn his masters degree in public 
administration from the George Washington University and to attend the 
National War College.
  General Burpee is a command pilot who amassed an incredible 11,000 
flying hours in various aircraft during his remarkable career. His 
military awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished 
Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal With Cluster, Silver Star, 
Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross With Oak Leaf Cluster, 
Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal With 14 Oak 
Leaf Clusters and the Air Force Commendation Medal.
  General Burpee is married to the former Sally Dreve Fisher of Fort 
Worth, Texas. They have two children, Richard A. and Brent A.
  General Burpee was elected to the board of directors of the Retired 
Officers Association (TROA) in 1992, and as chairman of the board in 
1996. Through his stewardship, the Retired Officers Association played 
a vital role as a staunch advocate of legislative initiatives to 
maintain readiness and improve the quality of life for all members of 
the uniformed services--active, reserve, and retired, plus their 
families and survivors. I won't describe all of his accomplishments, 
but will briefly focus on a few to illustrate the breadth of his 
concern for service people. As chairman, he led the fight to honor the 
life time health care commitment to servicemembers, which ultimately 
resulted in legislative authority to reopen the doors of military 
treatment facilities to Medicare-eligible beneficiaries through an 
innovative program we have all come to know as Medicare subvention. 
More recently, he teamed with me and my distinguished colleagues, 
Messrs. J.C. Watts (Okla.) and William ``Mac'' Thornberry (Texas) to 
win approval of a demonstration to allow Medicare-eligible service 
beneficiaries to enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits 
Program. These programs, when expanded nationwide, will take critical 
steps toward honoring this Nation's commitment to those who served so 
valiantly. Also, under his direction, TROA worked tirelessly to provide 
survivor benefits to widows of retirees, who died before the survivor 
benefit program was enacted two decades ago, and to restore dependency 
and indemnity compensation to remarried widows of service-connected 
disabled veterans, whose second or subsequent marriages terminated due 
to death or divorce. Finally, he was ever mindful of the adverse 
effects on morale and retention caused by broken commitments and 
inadequate compensation and forcefully championed the causes of 
fairness and equity. His leadership efforts to defeat the imposition of 
user fees in military health care facilities, to preserve cost-of-
living adjustments for retirees and to provide adequate pay raises for 
active and reserve members are especially worthy of note.
  As a final thought, as I am sure you will all agree, the word 
leadership is often applied perfunctorily or to those who do not 
deserve it. In General Burpee's case, just the opposite is true. He has 
been, in every sense of the word, a leader in the military, TROA and 
the entire retired community. Our wishes go with him for a long life 
and continued success in service to his Nation and especially to those 
in uniform who he has so admirably led.

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