[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 123 (Friday, July 25, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1568]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING THE U.S. AIR FORCE 
            B-52H STRATOFORTRESS CREW LOST ON JULY 21, 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 24, 2008

  Ms. BORDALLO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the lives and 
service of Major Christopher M. Cooper, aircraft commander; Major Brent 
D. Williams, navigator; Captain Michael K. Dodson, co-pilot; First 
Lieutenant Joshua D. Shepherd, navigator; First Lieutenant Robert 
Gerren, electronic warfare officer; and Colonel George Martin, flight 
surgeon, who were the crew of a B-52H Stratofortress that crashed off 
the coast of Guam on July 21, 2008. The crew was assigned to the 20th 
Expeditionary Bomb Squadron based at Barksdale Air Force Base, 
Louisiana and were deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam as part of 
the Air Force's continual bomber presence in the Pacific. Colonel 
Martin was the on-board flight surgeon and deputy commander of the 36th 
Medical Group at Andersen Air Force Base. The B-52 was preparing to fly 
over Guam's annual Liberation Day parade, commemorating the 64th 
Anniversary of the Liberation of Guam during World War II after thirty-
two months of occupation by enemy forces.
  This tragic event reminds us of the constant dangers that are faced 
by our men and women in uniform. The loss of this crew is felt by the 
Air Force family throughout the world and our island community of Guam. 
The people of Guam will always remember this crew on Liberation Day and 
their untimely passing gives us all the more reason to appreciate our 
freedom and the many sacrifices made by the men and women who serve in 
our Armed Forces defending our nation.
  In their honor, I would like to recite the poem ``High Flight'' by 
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.:

     Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
     And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
     Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
     Of sun-split clouds--and done a hundred things
     You have not dreamed of--wheeled and soared and swung
     High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
     I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
     My eager craft through footless halls of air.
     Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
     I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
     Where never lark, or even eagle flew--
     And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
     The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
     Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
  I offer my deepest sympathies and prayers to all the families of 
these brave airmen who gave their lives in the service of their 
country.
  God bless the families of these brave men, God bless the men and 
women defending our freedom, God bless Guam, and God bless our country, 
the United States of America.

                          ____________________