[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 24, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H810-H811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LIFE OF JOHN MURTHA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I want to make note, Madam Speaker, of the 
fact that the Speaker of the House is here and the chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee has been here throughout the entire time of 
this tribute, out of respect. That's old school. Jack was old school. 
That's what would matter to him. You'd never see him with a BlackBerry. 
Can you imagine Jack Murtha with a BlackBerry? I am sure he's never 
used the Internet once in his life.
  You know, when we learned of Jack's passing, Norm Dicks and I were on 
the phone and, between sobs, we, at the

[[Page H811]]

same time, we blurted out the same thing: He was like a father to me. 
He kind of was. He sort of taught us in his own ways, really, by his 
conduct, the way we should conduct ourselves in this institution. 
That's why he is here. He's here. He's left his mark on each one of us 
individually and collectively. He's done so much to shape this 
institution.
  Family comes first. He would call his daughter, Donna, who's a 
teacher in Fairfax County schools, every night. Regardless of all the 
issues he was dealing with with Iraq and Afghanistan and so on, he'd 
want to know how her kids were doing in class.
  And, of course, he adored Joyce. Joyce was the queen. Of course, 
Joyce would sometimes acknowledge that I know I have to share him with 
you, Nancy, as Speaker, but he had that kind of reverence that was so 
important to this institution for leadership and for individuals.
  And he was also--he knew how to be a friend. Everyone who walked up 
to that corner, he welcomed. He knew their name. He made them feel 
welcome. If they had a letter that they wanted him to read, a little 
note or something, he'd take the time and read it. He'd say, Come on, 
sit down beside me.
  He also was strong enough that he could afford to be gentle. We know 
how he reached out to all of the soldiers, the men and women in 
uniform, really cared about them. He'd go over to Walter Reed. He would 
go and stand with them, hold their hand at times.
  He also did other things that, you know, if I didn't mention it, I 
doubt that anyone would know, and some people will think they seem a 
little silly perhaps.
  Charlie Horner knows, his long time aide. He heard that Army Navy 
Country Club had a problem with the cats, that they had proliferated. 
They were all over the place. And so they decided, we've got too many 
cats; we're going to kill them all. Jack found that out. It's true, 
isn't it? But Jack found that out. He called a General and he says, 
Don't you go killing any of those kitty cats at Army Navy Country Club. 
And he didn't. They didn't. They all survived.
  Just want to share an experience. 9/11, we were debating whether to 
put money into missile defense or into counterterrorism because Richard 
Clarke has told us that's the real threat. So it is the morning of 9/11 
we were debating it, and Jack had decided the real threat is 
counterterrorism. And then Norm had seen the TV and the planes going 
into the World Trade Center, and we could hear this herd of people 
running down the corridor outside. The Capitol vacated immediately. But 
there wasn't a sign of anxiety, let alone fear, on Jack's face. I 
walked out with him.
  We stood there in the driveway and all the police were trying to 
clear everyone. Jack didn't feel any need to move, and he told me this 
story. He says, Jim, when I was in Vietnam, I was in a foxhole and we 
were taking fire. And a young private jumped in the foxhole. There was 
only room for one person, so I had to get out. And I ran into the line 
of fire looking for a foxhole and found one. A few minutes later, a 
grenade landed in that foxhole I had been in, blew the soldier up. Now, 
this is the soldier, of course, who forced him into the line of fire. 
And Jack said, I have always felt so bad for that young soldier. I wish 
I had stayed there and not seen him blown up.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  February 24, 2010 on Page H811 the following appeared: says, 
Jerry, when I was in Vietnam, I
  
  The online version should be corrected to read: says, Jim, when 
I was in Vietnam, I


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 

  That was the kind of guy he was. He was bigger than life, but his 
life was really about other people and about this institution and this 
country.
  So Jack, thank you for being who you were and who you are to this 
institution.

                          ____________________