[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 63 (Thursday, May 16, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S4487]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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              HONORING LIEUTENANT COMMANDER WILLIAM MUSCHA

 Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, almost 20 years ago I had the good 
fortune of selecting Bill Muscha, a boy from Fargo, ND, as my nominee 
for the Naval Academy. He had been a member of his high school ROTC, a 
newspaper carrier, a Merit Scholar, an altar boy, a violinist, an Eagle 
Scout, a Sunday schoolteacher, a good kid. He was bright, well 
mannered, disciplined, dedicated to his career choice. I was pleased at 
the caliber of this youth and proud to be able to send him to 
Annapolis.
  Now, many years later, I have the painful duty of announcing to my 
colleagues here in the U.S. Senate, that Lieutenant Commander William 
Muscha has been killed in the line of duty. He was aboard a Navy 
Saberliner jet, out of the Pensacola Naval Air Station, which went down 
in the Gulf of Mexico on May 10.
  As my colleagues understand so well, one of the great joys of serving 
in the Congress is being able to appoint young men and women to the 
Nation's military academies. Inevitably, these are the best and 
brightest, star scholars, skilled athletes, shining patriots, engaging 
youngsters who are unusually mature, who already know what they want to 
do with their lives. When they are selected, their families are 
exuberant, their schools celebrate, and their hometowns swell with 
pride, and the students thank us warmly for the great favor we have 
bestowed on them.
  But the truth is that these youngsters are the ones that the Members 
of Congress should be thanking. Senators don't need any plaudits for 
doing their job. The tributes always ought go instead to these 
wonderful teenagers who volunteer to serve their Nation in positions 
that are difficult, challenging, and dangerous. America is 
extraordinarily fortunate to have these kids step forward every year 
and pledge to defend their homeland.
  Commander Muscha is a proud symbol of this Nation's tradition of 
citizen soldiers, the youngsters who come out of our high schools and 
neighborhoods, and pledge their lives to defend us. His sudden death is 
a sobering reminder of the hazards of military life. The perils of that 
career, dangers which led to the unhappy loss of Commander Muscha, are 
one reason why the men and women of the Armed Services are so respected 
by the American people. As their representative, I am both humbled and 
honored to stand here today, and salute this North Dakota patriot, and 
to send the Nation's sympathies to his grieving family.
  He leaves his wife, Tamara, and their six children, Kara, Riley, 
Andrew, Molly, Zachary, and Emily: his parents, Robert and Carol 
Muscha; a sister, Major Diane Jones, and her husband, Scott; and the 
American Nation.

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