[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 94 (Wednesday, July 13, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8239-S8240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


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                  MARINE CORPORAL RICHARD GILBERT, JR.

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Marine Cpl 
Richard Gilbert, Jr., from Dayton, OH, who gave his life in the defense 
of freedom on January 26, 2005. Richard lost his life in a helicopter 
accident near the town of Rutba, Iraq. Thirty-one service members lost 
their lives in this tragic accident.
  Having just completed major operations in Fallujah, Richard and his 
unit were on their way to help secure Iraq for the upcoming elections. 
They sacrificed their lives standing up for freedom and standing 
against terror and tyranny. Like his comrades who perished with him, 
Richard Gilbert gave his body, will, and soul to his country and for 
his country. For that I wish to honor him this evening.
  Richard Gilbert was born on May 12, 1978. He was a caring boy, who 
loved animals and being outdoors. He hated when people cried. His 
mother, Helen, recalls that if Richard saw anyone around him crying, he 
would go over to them, throw one of his small arms

[[Page S8240]]

around their shoulders, and tell them it was ``ok.''
  As Richard grew up, he made friends, played Little League, and 
followed his favorite sports teams. He was an avid fan of the 
University of Dayton Flyers basketball team and The Ohio State 
University football team. His support of the Buckeye's football team, 
however, caused a bit of tension in the Gilbert home every year in the 
late fall. It seems Richard's brother was a Michigan Wolverines fan and 
according to their mother, when the Wolverines and the Buckeye's 
squared off, ``You didn't even want to be near the house when those 
boys watched the game!''
  When Richard wasn't discussing football with his brother, he was 
often found discussing something with somebody. He was an incredibly 
articulate and intelligent young man, able to spout facts about 
anything from sports to religion to politics. His friends would often 
call Richard over if they were having a dispute and needed someone with 
the knowledge to settle it.
  Richard also loved music. He was a self-taught guitarist, who 
composed his own music. According to friends, he loved heavy metal and 
he was always at peace when composing or playing his guitar.
  Of all his interests, however, Richard's greatest love was of 
politics. After discovering that President Harry Truman was one of his 
distant cousins, Richard made it his goal to ascend one day to that 
same office. His passion for politics earned him the nickname ``The 
Governor'' from his friends, and his mother jokingly recalls that, 
``[h]e was a natural-born politician. When you asked him a question, 
he'd talk for a half-hour and never give you an answer!''
  Richard had hopes of running either for Mayor of Dayton or the Dayton 
City Commission after he returned from Iraq. I remember being at 
calling hours and talking with people who told me about his 
aspirations, and how they thought he would be a great politician, a 
great public servant. He would have been great in either position.
  Richard was, like many of our service men and women, deeply affected 
by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Prior to the attacks, 
he was working on the assembly line at Behr Dayton Thermal Products. He 
had just purchased a house, not far from his mother. Richard was also 
studying political science at Sinclair Community College. He had 
thought about joining the military, but had held back because he didn't 
want to cut his long hair.
  After September 11, however, Richard saw a clear duty to his country 
and to protecting all of us from future threats. In December 2001, he 
joined the Marines, where he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd 
Marine Regiment, of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Hawaii. 
His lifelong friend, Marine SSgt Lonnie McMurchy, remembers the phone 
call he got from Richard. Lonnie tried to talk him out of the Marine 
infantry, telling Richard that his intelligence would be more valuable 
in another area that might also be less dangerous, but, according to 
Lonnie, ``He wanted it. He wanted the infantry. He wanted to go fight 
[and] defend our country.''
  In joining the Marines, Richard stood up for freedom, leaving behind 
a good paying job, a new house, and his beloved friends and family. He 
put his life on hold so that we could safely go on with our own.
  Richard served our Nation with a dedication and fervor that was 
noteworthy even to one of his fellow Marines. According to JJ Holmes, 
who wrote in an email message on an Internet tribute to Richard:

       I served with Gilbert, and we became very good friends, 
     which is saying a lot, because I didn't make many good 
     friends while I was in the Marines. I guess it's because I'm 
     picky about the company I keep. And it doesn't get much 
     better than Gilbert to have as a friend. We had very 
     different religious and political views, yet it never 
     hindered our relationship, because we had a mutual respect 
     for each other.
       I know this though, out of all the Marines in our Company, 
     Gilbert never complained once about his duty to his country. 
     I could see every day I spent with him how proud he was to 
     serve. Not to diminish the belief of all the other Marines in 
     their duty, Gilbert shined a little more. His dedication was 
     unwavering. [He was] an example to all Marines. I know 
     without a doubt through our conversations we had sitting on 
     the backs of our packs waiting to move out, that if Gilbert 
     had to go, he wanted to leave us the way he did--fighting for 
     the country he believed in more than anything.

  As a child, Richard wrote an essay about his father, Richard Gilbert, 
Sr., who was a Vietnam veteran. In the essay, Richard described his dad 
as a hero. Today, Mr. Gilbert says this of his son: ``[H]e was my hero, 
and he was the bravest person I ever met.''
  This sentiment was echoed by his friend, Lonnie McMurchy: ``He was a 
warrior. He was a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend, and a U.S. 
Marine. He wanted nothing more and nothing less.''
  Richard Gilbert wanted our country to be safe from the dangers of 
terrorism, and he wanted the Iraqi people to be safe and free. He gave 
everything he had for those things, as they were the things in which he 
so firmly believed. Richard stood so that freedom could flourish. We 
will never forget his service and his sacrifice.
  My wife, Fran, and I continue to keep his family and friends in our 
thoughts and in our prayers.

                          ____________________