[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 156 (Sunday, September 28, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2107]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IN HONOR OF MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM H. GOURLEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.)

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                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 26, 2008

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an American hero, Maj. 
Gen. William H. Gourley, who passed away on August 25 this year. He 
will be greatly missed.
  It is hard to condense the life of such a big man into mere words. 
His spirit and energy were indefatigable and inspired soldiers, family 
and friends alike.
  I had the honor and pleasure to interview General Gourley shortly 
before he died in a retrospective look at his life. I did this as one 
way to pay tribute to General Gourley but also as part of the Library 
of Congress' Veterans History Project. Now General Gourley's story will 
be there for the generations to hear.
  I got to know General Gourley when he retired to the Monterey 
Peninsula right about the time of the 1991 BRAC action which ended up 
closing Fort Ord in my district.
  At the time I was serving in the State Assembly and was unaware that 
General Gourley, even then, was working behind the scenes to make sure 
the rank-and-file military was taken care of. General Gourley was fond 
of championing his own special commandments--his own 10 Golden Rules. 
When Fort Ord appeared on the BRAC list General Gourley worked his 
network in the Pentagon to make sure a portion of the base was 
dedicated to a VA clinic to serve the thousands of veterans living in 
the area. As his 10th Golden Rule says: ``Make a better Army and Corps 
for your subordinates to inherit.'' In working to make sure the former 
Fort Ord held a VA clinic--even a small one--he was leaving something 
better behind.
  But that was typical of Bill Gourley. He was a get-it-done kind of 
guy. He recalled a time from when he was stationed in Korea and was 
ordered to evacuate all civilian Americans from a town. One person 
refused to go unless the Army Chief of Staff wrote the order 
personally. Gourley wrote the order, forged then Army Chief-of Staff 
Maxwell Taylor's signature and the recalcitrant civilian up and moved.
  Now, 50+ years later, that almost sounds comical. But it was serious 
business at the time and Bill Gourley was a man determined to follow 
through. As important as getting the job done, however, was his 
commitment to the chain of command. He once told a story about working 
at the National Military Command Center as a part of the staff of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff where he monitored cables from Asia. One evening 
then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara requested to see a particular 
FLASH cable, ``FLASH'' being a message relating to ground operations in 
Vietnam and of the utmost top secret nature and extremely urgent. 
Gourley searched the files for the communique and noted that it said 
``For the Chairman's Eyes Only.'' He stalwartly told the Secretary of 
Defense he could not pass on the file to read because only the Chairman 
of the Joint Chiefs had the necessary clearance.
  General Gourley was always all about the men and women of the Army. 
He tried to do right by them in every posting he had. When he was in 
command at the War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he insisted 
soldiers couldn't come to class unless they brought their wives. This 
was so spouses would come to understand the Army mindset and form a 
greater bond within the family around shared duty and sacrifice.
  Not every task he undertook played out the way he thought. He was in 
charge of a task force assigned to approach Mrs. Julia Abrams, the 
widow of General Creighton Abrams, to discuss the possibility of naming 
a new Army tank after the late General. Gourley related how he and his 
staff gave a command briefing on the tank to Mrs. Abrams spending 
excruciating detail on the vehicle and praising its abilities. When 
they were exhausted from effort and turned to look to Mrs. Abrams for a 
reaction, she simply said, ``But General, is it a good tank?'' When 
Bill assured her it was, she said it was fine to name it the Abrams 
tank.
  In relating all of this to you, Madam Speaker, I hope to portray the 
man behind the medals, for General Gourley was a ``soldier's soldier'' 
and loved the Army. He took up the military life early by joining ROTC 
in college. He flourished in ROTC and moved on to additional training 
over the years at the Infantry School, the Adjutant General School, the 
United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the United 
States War College. He served in Germany, where he shared MREs with 
Elvis Presley, Korea and Vietnam. When he returned from Vietnam he was 
assigned to the Pentagon and rose to serve on the staff of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff where he served for a time with Colin Powell. General 
Gourley retired from the Army on December 31, 1989 after 36 years of 
service.
  Even in his retirement General Gourley did not leave behind the needs 
of the military. He was active in the community and worked hard on a 
number of issues relevant to the military, their families and veterans, 
like improving TRICARE service on the Monterey Peninsula; helping 
fashion a veterans cemetery on the old Fort Ord; establishing a health 
care consortium to provide more accessible and affordable health care 
to military retirees; and laying the groundwork for a joint DOD-VA 
health care clinic.
  Earlier this year, General Gourley's beloved wife, Molly, passed away 
and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Bill, too, will be 
interred there on November 6. They leave behind a loving family: 
Michael their son, daughters Cecily, Carolyn and Mary Jane, and nine 
grandchildren, Lindsey, Scott, Allison, Michael, Andrew, Kathryn, Sean, 
Cole and Carlyanne.
  Like General Gourley's last Golden Rule, he has left the place better 
than when he found it. I will miss his energy and his passion and his 
friendship. But short though our acquaintance may have been, I am proud 
to have known him and commend him for his service to the Army and to 
his fellow man.

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