[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 96 (Thursday, May 21, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2610-S2611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO SHARON LONG

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, it is Thursday, one of my favorite times 
of the week, because it is the time I get to come to the Senate floor 
and recognize an extraordinary Alaskan whom we refer to as the Alaskan 
of the Week.
  Now, Memorial Day is fast approaching. It is certainly one of the 
most sacred days in our Nation throughout the year. For this week's 
Alaskan of the Week, Sharon Long, it is a day that is a particularly 
profound day.
  Sharon Long is a Gold Star mother who lives in Anchorage, and she 
remembers her son, Grant Fraser, every day of the year. For her and her 
family and for so many people who knew Grant and who served with Grant, 
Memorial Day is a day when his memory is particularly honored.
  Before I get into Sharon Long's story, as well as the remarkable 
story of her son Grant, let me talk a little bit about what is going on 
in Alaska right now as we, in our country, continue to face the 
challenges of this pandemic.
  We are doing pretty well in our State, medically, certainly. Things 
could, of course, change quickly. We remain vigilant as a State, but 
the number of people infected by the virus is very low. Businesses are 
starting to reopen. Life, by no means, is back to normal, and there is 
much that we are going to need to do to recover from this virus and 
pandemic, which has very, very negatively impacted so many parts of the 
great State of Alaska's economy--the energy sector, tourism sector, 
fishery sector. We will get through this stronger and more resilient, 
but it is a challenging time.
  As you know, Memorial Day weekend commemorates many virtues in our 
Nation: service, selflessness, and, of course, sacrifice. But Memorial 
Day also commemorates and inspires hope. I know hope can be a bit hard 
to come by during these challenging times, but I don't think we have to 
go very far to see signs of hope.
  In our great Nation and in my great State, hope is in the faces of 
those we love. In Alaska, it is in our mountains and our glaciers and 
our clear waters. It is also woven into the fabric of our country and 
the soul of our Nation. It is at the very heart of who we are, and it 
has been so throughout our history, often manifesting itself in the 
battles that have shaped our Nation over decades and over centuries 
that define so much of the American character and the people who fought 
those battles and died defending their Nation whom we commemorate this 
weekend. Hope is what Sharon Long and other Gold Star mothers 
throughout our State and Nation who have lost a child while defending 
America have to offer us.
  So let me tell you about Sharon's story and about her son, Marine 
Corps LCpl Grant Fraser, who gave his life for this Nation. From 
Seattle, Sharon moved to our State to live with her aunt and uncle when 
she was just 16 years old. She graduated from West High School in 
Anchorage, studied political science at Alaska Methodist University, 
which is now Alaska Pacific University, and embraced the great State of 
Alaska with everything she had.
  It was a heady and exciting time in Alaska. Prudhoe Bay Oil Field on 
the North Slope was just discovered--the biggest oilfield in North 
America. This is the late 1960s, early 1970s. The Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act, one of the biggest land claims acts in U.S. history, 
was being debated and then passed right here on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate.
  Sharon said: Alaska was a wide open place that wanted the energy of 
my generation. She got to work. She worked at the Department of Natural 
Resources, an agency that I had the honor of being the former 
commissioner of. She worked for the Joint Federal-State Land Use 
Planning Commission for Alaska, inventorying the abundant world-class 
natural resources we have in our State.
  Then she and a girlfriend traveled the world for a year and landed at 
the end of her tour in DC. She was young, broke, on a friend's couch, 
and she came here and asked for and got a job with former Alaska U.S. 
Senator Mike Gravel. Some might remember Senator Gravel here in the 
Senate. She worked on natural resource issues for him.
  Eventually, she made her way back home to Alaska and met her husband,

[[Page S2611]]

an Air Force anesthesiologist, James Fraser, who made his way into 
private practice. Sharon helped run the office, and they had two 
wonderful children, Grant and Victoria.
  So who is Grant Fraser? Her son. He was popular at Service High 
School in Anchorage, where he graduated. He was an actor who loved the 
works of Homer and Shakespeare. He was a mountain biker, a skier, a 
pianist, a scuba diver, a rock climber, and a tennis player. He was 
lighthearted and mischievous, and according to his marine brothers, the 
only thing that could really rile him up was when they talked about his 
sister the way in which sometimes marines, unfortunately, have the 
habit of doing. He was a fiercely loyal brother. You could not joke 
about his sister Victoria, who, by the way, now is a professional 
soprano singer who has performed all over the world.
  So Sharon and her husband James assumed that Grant would become an 
athlete, maybe, or a scholar. He was a very, very smart young man. But 
shortly after 9/11, like so many patriotic young Americans across our 
Nation, he surprised his family and his friends when he announced he 
was joining the marines. ``No, no, no, no,'' Sharon told her son. 
``That isn't the plan. You are going to school now.''
  He told his mom: ``Mom, this isn't my scholarly time of life. I am 
ready to serve and fight for my country, if need be.''
  He knew he would thrive in the Marines, and he did. He planned on 
coming back home in Anchorage to work as a paramedic with the fire 
department. Grant and I briefly overlapped in the Marine Corps unit. We 
both served in Alaska, Echo Company, 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, 
which was later deployed to Iraq in 2005.
  On August 3, 2005, in Anbar Province, Iraq, Grant was on a mission, 
Operation Quick Strike, to avenge the killing of his fellow marines 
that had happened just a few days earlier. He was riding in an AmTrac 
vehicle on an attack into the city, hit a massive improvised explosive 
device, and was 22 years old when he made the ultimate sacrifice for 
our Nation.

  Now, I love our military, but let's face it; sometimes it can be 
bureaucratic and boneheaded. It took 11 years and tenacious work on the 
part of Grant's amazing mother Sharon to finally get her son an 
appropriate burial across the street at Arlington.
  Just 2 days before the funeral, I was sitting next to Gen. Joe 
Dunford, the Marine Corps Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a 
dinner. I told General Dunford about Grant's heroism and about Sharon 
Long's heroic perseverance to get her son appropriately honored with a 
burial at Arlington.
  On an overcast day, September 30, 2016, Grant Fraser was put to rest 
among his brothers and sisters, our Nation's heroes, whom we honor this 
weekend at Arlington National Cemetery. Family, friends, and especially 
U.S. marines from all across America came to that service to say 
goodbye to their friend. I was there, and when I got there, I was 
honored to see many marines. One, in particular, came to the funeral 
early and stayed till the very end. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, 
General Dunford, attended in his dress blues out of respect for this 
young Marine Corps lance corporal.
  He later told me that when he read about what happened with Grant, he 
couldn't sleep. He wanted to be at the funeral to honor Grant's 
sacrifice and that of his family, especially his mother Sharon. General 
Dunford stayed after most others had left to talk to Sharon Long, 
Grant's mother, and his Marine Corps brothers. ``I don't live very far 
from here,'' the General told Sharon. ``I will be checking in on Grant 
from time to time.''
  Now, I have been to a lot of funerals in my Marine Corps career, but 
this was the most moving funeral I have ever attended. It was not 
because of the presence of a four-star general and Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs, General Dunford, the most powerful U.S. military officer 
in America--in the world, really--and not because of the serendipitous 
presence of the Marine captain in charge of the Arlington burial honor 
guard, whose twin brother was one of the fallen marines whom Grant 
Fraser had been sent to avenge the day he was killed 11 years earlier. 
It was so moving on that day because, on that day, rank didn't matter, 
and medals didn't matter. That day we were all just Americans grieving 
the loss of one of our own: mischievous, smart, Marine Corps LCpl Grant 
Fraser, an actor, an Alaskan, a brother, a son. It was so moving 
because of the dignity, grace, and beautiful determination exhibited by 
Sharon Long, who epitomizes the love, suffering, and quiet sacrifice of 
so many Gold Star mothers across our country, especially this weekend.
  Sharon stays in touch with Grant's Marine Corps brothers. They call 
her on Mother's Day. They send her flowers, invite her to their 
weddings and to their kids' birthday parties. Two of them showed up at 
their family home when Sharon's daughter, Victoria, whom we already 
talked about, and her date were headed to prom. They needed to make 
sure Grant would have approved of Victoria's date. I am sure Victoria 
appreciated that.
  Grant would have been in the same place in life as these young men 
are now. As one of them said to Sharon: I came back home from Iraq to 
live the life Grant couldn't.
  Sharon is proud of all the men and women who have served, who served 
with Grant and continue to serve. She understands their calling. She 
understands their camaraderie. These incredible warriors in our Nation 
give her hope.
  With men and women like these, Sharon said: ``How can you not be 
proud of this country? How can you not be optimistic about this 
country?''
  The lives of hundreds of thousands of America's sons and daughters 
have been lost in fighting for our great Nation, and on Memorial Day, 
they are in the hearts of all Americans. They are in the hearts of all 
Alaskans. They are in the hearts of all Gold Star families, and they 
are in the hearts of Sharon Long and her family.
  Like Gold Star mothers all across the country and in our great State, 
Sharon was fiercely determined to advocate for her son. She sacrificed 
much but never gave up, and neither will we ever give up on them, on 
him, or their memory, which we commemorate this weekend.
  Sharon Long's actions recalled the Memorial Day words of President 
Reagan in 1985 after placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown 
Soldier, a place that is not far from Grant Fraser's eternal resting 
place. As President Reagan said:

       If words cannot repay the debt we owe these men [and 
     women], surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith 
     with them and with the vision that led them to battle and 
     final sacrifice.
       Our first obligation to them and ourselves is plain enough: 
     The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the 
     freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their 
     lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a 
     cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we 
     commemorate were willing to sacrifice so much, so too must 
     we--in a less final, less heroic way--be willing to give of 
     ourselves [for our Nation].

  Thank you, Sharon Long, for your brave sacrifice, for your dignified 
determination, and for your hope, which gives us hope. As we head into 
another sacred Memorial Day weekend, thank you for being our Alaskan of 
the Week

                          ____________________