[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E95-E96]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      EULOGY FOR CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 3 MITCHELL ``MITCH'' CARVER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES H. TAYLOR

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 8, 2006

  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, many young men and women 
have been killed and wounded in the Iraqi conflict--more than 2,000 
killed and 17,000 wounded. I'd like today to reprint my eulogy given at 
the funeral of CWO3 Mitchell ``Mitch'' Carver as a tribute not only to 
him and his parents, but as a reminder to all citizens of our country 
that ``freedom is not free.''

     In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
     Between the crosses, row on row
     That mark our place, and in the sky
     The larks, still bravely singing, fly
     Scarce heard amid the guns below.

     We are the Dead! Short days ago
     We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
     Loved and were loved, and now we lie
     In Flanders' fields.

       John McCrae wrote those words before his own death on the 
     battlefield nearly 90 years ago. We have learned to protect 
     the lives of our soldiers better. In the war to end all wars, 
     more died in single battles than America has lost in all wars 
     since. America has learned to protect our soldiers better--
     but not well enough for we are here to pay homage to the life 
     of Mitch Carver. We take pride in reducing our casualties, 
     but the sacrifice of the family is not a small percent, it is 
     not a small loss, it is not a small number. Their sacrifice 
     is enormous, it is total, it is all.

[[Page E96]]

       Mitch Carver took up ``The Torch'' for the country he 
     loved. He knew who he was fighting. He was fighting the evil 
     that plants a bomb that kills innocent women and children and 
     families who harm no one. Murderers who kill, kidnap 
     defenseless women and children for no reason but to show 
     evil. He chose to do it. For it is not the press who protect 
     our right to free speech, it is men like Mitch Carver who 
     choose to do it. It is riot the Congress, not the government 
     bureaucrats, who protect us from those who would enslave us. 
     It is men like Mitch Carver who choose to do it. For another 
     time Mitch Carver rejoined his comrades in Iraq because he 
     knew they needed him and he believed he could, with his 
     advanced skill, keep them safer, and perhaps lessen their 
     danger. And that he did. We may never know how many he saved 
     by his advanced skill.
       In the 8 years I have been privileged to serve as 
     representative on the board of our country's military academy 
     at West Point, I have seen thousands of young men and women 
     take the oath to protect us. Theirs is a simple pledge: 
     ``Duty, Honor, Country.'' In this world of being told there 
     is no black nor white, there is only gray political 
     correctness and ``is'' has to be defined, I thank God we have 
     young men and women who have no trouble defining ``Duty, 
     Honor, Country.''
       The late T.B. Macaulay in his poem Horatius at the Bridge 
     says, ``To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or 
     late. And now how can man die better than facing fearful 
     odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his 
     gods.'' Mitch Carver believed in and loved God. He knew the 
     Bible. He could quote this verse better than I, ``For God so 
     loved the Earth that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
     whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have 
     everlasting life.'' Mitch Carver risked and gave his life to 
     perform his duty, but as God promised, he did not perish but 
     will remain in our hearts and memories until he meets his 
     family in another life.

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