[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 40 (Friday, March 26, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN MEMORY OF FERN HOLLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SUE WILKINS MYRICK

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 25, 2004

  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, in a tragedy personified by 
the killing of a young woman from middle America, we were reminded of 
the unsung goodness and bravery of so many Americans serving their 
country overseas.
  On March 9, 2004, Fern Holland, of Miami, Oklahoma, was the first 
American civilian killed in the Iraq war. Her death has sparked over 
200 national news reports, and an outpouring of grief from around the 
globe. Fern's story has touched people like me who never knew her, but 
who can now never forget her.
  It's rare these days to know someone who is willing to sacrifice the 
comforts America offers to serve others who are less fortunate. It is 
even more rare to know a person who is willing to sacrifice their own 
life in order to improve the lives of others around the world. Fern 
Holland was an American hero who sacrificed both the comforts of home, 
and indeed even her life, to make the world a better place. People who 
exemplify such compassion and courage should be honored, and by telling 
her story I hope that she will be remembered.
  Fern was a successful attorney, first in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and later 
in Washington, DC. She walked away from a lucrative career to carry out 
human rights work in violence plagued Guinea, Liberia, and later Iraq.
  In her first effort to help others overseas, Fern lived in a remote 
village in Namibia as a Peace Corps volunteer. She helped the villagers 
there learn English, and built a computer laboratory to access the 
internet. Later, Fern worked for the American Refugee Committee where 
she investigated sexual assaults in a violence-plagued refugee camp in 
Guinea. There, she established the first sex violence legal clinic that 
to date has processed more than 100 cases.
  Last year, after major combat operations in Iraq concluded, Fern 
traveled to Iraq and worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority as 
a women's rights specialist. She helped establish women's rights, she 
established service centers throughout Iraq, and she helped found an 
Iraqi women's political party. The day before her death, Iraqi leaders 
signed an interim constitution that includes a controversial provision 
Fern helped draft. It establishes a goal for 25 percent female 
membership in the national assembly. Knowing of the dangers in Iraq, 
especially in working to extend women's rights, Fern wrote to friends 
only weeks before her death, ``I love the work and if I die, know that 
I'm doing precisely what I want to be doing--working to organize and 
educate human rights activists and women's groups''.
  These are but a few of Fern Holland's contributions to the world, a 
world which is a better place because of her. In this day and time, 
when the world seems dark and dreary, we look to people like Fern 
Holland who's bright light gives us hope. Fern displayed a compassion 
and commitment to people that Jesus spoke about when he said, ``Greater 
love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.'' 
Her sacrifice is an example and inspiration to all who strive for a 
better world, and she will be missed.

                          ____________________