[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 59 (Monday, May 3, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                         TRIBUTE TO PAT TILLMAN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in November of 1864, when the ``awful 
universe of battle'' raged across America, President Abraham Lincoln 
paused to write a letter to one Mrs. Bixby, the mother of five sons 
serving in the Civil War.

       Dear Madame, I have been shown in the files of the War 
     Department a statement of the Adjutant General of 
     Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have 
     died gloriously on the field of battle.
       I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine 
     that should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss 
     so overwhelming.
       But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation 
     that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to 
     save.
       I pray our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your 
     bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the 
     loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to 
     have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

  In the face of tragic death, it is beyond my capacity to conceive of 
the words that could justify the cause of freedom.
  Yet with President Lincoln's words of 140 years ago, I cannot 
conceive of any better words to consecrate the cause of freedom in the 
face of such tragedy.
  As long as freedom last, these words are immortal.
  Every President and every leader in the free world since who has had 
to call upon their soldiers to defend freedom knows of Abe Lincoln's 
letter to widow Bixby.
  Upon hearing of the death in combat of any of our fine young men and 
women in uniform, all leaders of freedom have searched for the right 
words and likely returned to those used by the Great Emancipator almost 
a century and a half ago for inspiration.
  Eleven days ago, another costly sacrifice was laid upon the altar of 
freedom.
  Today the people of San Jose, CA will gather to remember one of their 
honored fallen.
  Pat Tillman was no different than any other soldier who served. Those 
who survive Pat Tillman grieve no differently than the survivors of any 
other soldier killed in freedom's cause.
  Yet Pat Tillman embodies to a Nation the honor and duty of all those 
who serve in uniform.
  Not every soldier is like Pat Tillman, but in each soldier, we find a 
little of the likes of Pat Tillman.
  In my home state of Kentucky, the sacrifice for freedom is real and 
painful with the loss of too many fine young men.
  On April 7, Staff Sergeant George S. Rentschler, 31, of Louisville 
was lost in action with the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad.
  Marine Corporal Nicholas Dieruf, 21, of Lexington was killed in 
action in Husaybah on April 8.
  Sergeant Major Michael B. Stack, 48, of Fort Campbell, serving with 
the 5th Special Forces Group was lost on April 11 in the al Anbar 
Province.
  And 1st Lieutenant Robert L. Henderson II, 33, of Alvaton, serving 
with the Kentucky National Guard was killed in Diwaniyah on April 17.
  Each of these heroes volunteered knowing that one day they might be 
called upon for the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
  Like Sergeant Rentschler, Corporal Dieruf, Sergeant Major Stack and 
Lieutenant Henderson, Pat Tillman heard the call and paid the 
sacrifice.
  With our fallen Kentucky natives, he joins that band of brothers, 
that noble breed of volunteer militia who so long ago picked up the 
musket so that freedom might find one sanctuary here on Earth.
  Where his forefathers put down their hoe in a cornfield, he put down 
his helmet on a football field and walked onto the battlefield of 
freedom.
  In dedicating the final resting place of those who died at 
Gettysburg, President Lincoln stated

       But in a large sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot 
     consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, 
     living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far 
     above our poor power to add or detract.

  President Lincoln concluded:

       It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
     remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take 
     increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their 
     last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve 
     that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this 
     Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and 
     that government of the people, by the people, for the people 
     shall not perish from the earth.

  Mr. President, the sacrifice of Pat Tillman--like all those who serve 
and perish in our Nation's duty, has consecrated the cause of freedom 
far greater than our words could ever do.
  From the last full measure of devotion he gave for a new birth of 
freedom, it is we who must dedicate ourselves to the unfinished 
business of government of the people, by the people, and for the 
people.

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