[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 21831-21833]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




THE TRAGIC DEATH OF JOSEPH CAMARA, HUSBAND, FATHER, POLICE OFFICER AND 
                                PATRIOT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 10, 2003

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, September 1, a 
good and courageous man gave his life for his country. Joseph M. Camara 
was tragically killed while serving his nation in Iraq, as a member of 
the Rhode Island National Guard. In civilian life, as in military life, 
Sergeant Camara was a man dedicated to protecting his fellow citizens. 
He was a highly respected and deeply admired police officer in the City 
of New Bedford. Mr. Camara leaves behind his wife and three children, 
and they are joined in their grieving at the loss of this patriot by 
hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens in Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island. Of course nothing we can say will alleviate the pain that 
Mr. Camara's family feels at this untimely death, but we can at least 
demonstrate to them how deeply we sympathize with them and it is 
important for us to recognize here in the United States House of 
Representatives the terrible sacrifice Mr. Camara made in the service 
of his country.
  Mr. Speaker, the citizens of New Bedford, where Mr. Camara lived, 
raised his family, and served with great distinction as a police 
officer are especially devastated by his death. The people of the city 
have with one voice expressed their most profound condolences to the 
Camara family. And the depth of that feeling has been well conveyed by 
a series of articles in the New Bedford Standard Times about this 
terrible incident.
  Mr. Speaker, to commemorate Joseph Camara, to recognize appropriately 
in the United States Congress the enormous debt that we owe his wife 
and children, and to pay tribute to the people of New Bedford, who have 
been so steadfast in their support of the Camara family, I ask that the 
articles from the New Bedford Standard Times about the death

[[Page 21832]]

of Joseph Camara in the service of his country be printed here.
                                  ____


          [From the New Bedford Standard Times, Sept. 3, 2003]

               New Bedford Police Officer Killed in Iraq

                            (By Steve Urbon)

       Cranston, R.I.--A New Bedford police officer became the 
     first SouthCoast resident killed in action in the Iraq war 
     when a homemade land mine exploded on a highway near Baghdad 
     on Monday, killing two National Guardmen.
       Staff Sgt. Joseph M. Camara, 40, married and the father of 
     three, was on patrol with two other guardsmen from Rhode 
     Island's 115th Military Police Company when the device 
     exploded beneath their Humvee and ignited the fuel and 
     ammunition aboard, Lt. Col. Michael McNamara of the Rhode 
     Island National Guard said yesterday at a press conference in 
     Cranston announcing the deaths.
       He said Sgt. Camara, a patrolman in the New Bedford Police 
     Department when not on National Guard duty, was killed 
     instantly as was Sgt. Charles Caldwell, 38, of North 
     Providence, who was married with no children. Sgt. Caldwell 
     was driving the vehicle in a convoy in the late morning on a 
     road north of Baghdad, and Sgt. Camara was riding in the 
     passenger seat as vehicle commander.
       Spc. Edmund Aponte, 35, of Providence, who was manning the 
     vehicle's machine gun at the time, suffered burns and 
     shrapnel wounds and is hospitalized but expected to make a 
     complete recovery, Lt. Col. McNamara said. Spc. Aponte is 
     married and has three children.
       National Guard officials gave details at a noon press 
     conference at their Cranston headquarters, which followed a 
     meeting with many of the families of the men and women in 
     Iraq with the 115th M.P. Company. The company is in Iraq as 
     part of the 220th Military Police Brigade, supporting combat 
     troops performing such missions as house-to-house weapons 
     searches and road patrols.
       Flags were lowered to half-staff across southern New 
     England as the news spread of the first casualties in the 
     National Guard unit in 58 years. Its members come from across 
     southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and southeastern 
     Connecticut. In all, 600 members of the Rhode Island National 
     Guard are serving in hot spots overseas--360 of them in Iraq.
       Rhode Island's adjutant general and National Guard 
     commanding general Maj. Gen. Reginald Centracchio and Rhode 
     Island Gov. Donald Carcieri were grim-faced as they announced 
     the news.
       ``All of our hearts are broken over this,'' Gov. Carcieri 
     said. ``Our worst fears have been realized.''
       Having met with the families anxious for the safety of 
     their relatives in Iraq, Gov. Carcieri said that often ``we 
     do not appreciate the sacrifice that these men and women are 
     undergoing.''
       ``This is a terrible reminder that they are in harm's 
     way,'' he said.
       Gen. Centracchio alluded to the changed nature of the 
     conflict and suggested that as well-prepared, trained and led 
     as the troops are, the United States is not fully prepared 
     for the guerrilla war that has evolved in Iraq.
       ``We're fighting an unconventional war,'' he said. ``We 
     have to devise a way of dealing with a culture that is alien 
     to our set of values.
       ``Now we're dealing with the unknown,'' he said. ``They'll 
     shake your hand in a friendly way during the day, and at 
     night the same individual is willing to give his life to 
     satisfy his thoughts.
       ``We have to adapt to the kind of warfare we're dealing 
     with,'' Gen. Centracchio said.
       He said that would involve more training and more access to 
     armored vehicles that could withstand a land mine of the kind 
     his men encountered this week. He remarked that the makeup of 
     the fighting forces has changed in recent years, with 
     reserves constituting more of the primary fighting units.
       National Guard units, he said, ``are the Army. They are the 
     Air Force.''
       Lt. Col. McNamara said the ``improvised explosive device'' 
     that detonated beneath the vehicle could have been remotely 
     controlled by wire or transmitter. The Humvee, which was 
     configured in a ``turtle'' fashion for use by the military 
     police, was entirely vulnerable to such a threat. It carried 
     its own fuel as well as machine gun and 9 mm pistol 
     ammunition, and was on a routine patrol to keep supply lines 
     open.
       The 115th left Rhode Island Feb. 12 for Fort Drum, N.Y., 
     and more training. The 360 men and women arrived in Kuwait 
     April 2 and entered Iraq in early May.
                                  ____


                [From the Standard-Times, Sept. 4, 2003]

                   Losing Guardsman Joseph M. Camara

       The troubling war in Iraq and even more disturbing after-
     war struck us on the home front this week when an exploding 
     land mine outside Baghdad robbed this world of National Guard 
     Staff Sgt. Joseph M. Camara.
       The 40-year-old New Bedford police officer was a bulwark of 
     the South End neighborhood where he lived with his wife, two 
     daughters and son.
       He was the essence of a community police officer so 
     desperately needed in this city of rising violence.
       Not only did he do his job with distinction during his 
     regular shifts as a city patrol officer, but he gave his 
     family and neighbors on McGurk Street in the South End a 
     profound sense of security.
       His solid presence allowed them to sleep easier and take 
     greater pride in their working-class neighborhood of old 
     three-story homes.
       He was not afraid to step outside his home to ask someone 
     to stop creating bothersome noise or even to chase a bandit 
     down the street. Relatives recall he once burst into a 
     burning home to save a life.
       He spent his free time with his family, enjoying the kind 
     of close relationships with his wife and children that make 
     life rich and wonderful.
       This country, this city, this neighborhood and this family 
     are heartbroken at the loss of such a fine man to the war in 
     Iraq.
       He gave with a generosity to his country, his city and his 
     family that cannot be replaced.
                                  ____
                                  

                [From the Standard Times, Sept. 3, 2003]

     South End Neighborhood Will Feel Void Left by Officer's Death

                             (By Ray Henry)

       New Bedford.--Two years ago, Luisa Vieira was sitting in 
     her house when a series of quick gunshots interrupted the 
     evening calm on McGurk Street.
       Rushing to the window, she looked across the street and saw 
     her neighbor, Officer Joseph M. Camara, run down the walkway 
     leading from his family's second-floor apartment and chase 
     the car while unarmed and barely dressed.
       Within minutes, she said, the off-duty officer had warned 
     others of danger, called for help and sealed off part of the 
     street.
       ``He chased the car barefoot and in his boxers. He was very 
     protective of children and the kids out there,'' Ms. Vieira 
     said.
       Yesterday, as word of Staff Sgt. Camara's death in Iraq 
     spread around his South End neighborhood, his friends and 
     family gathered at the Camara home and remembered the family 
     man as a source of law and other in the sometimes rough 
     neighborhood.
       Sgt. Camara, who served in the 115th Military Police 
     Company of the Rhode Island National Guard, and Sgt. Charles 
     Caldwell of North Providence died on Monday when their Humvee 
     truck struck an improvised land mine north of Baghdad. A 
     third man, Spc. Edmund Aponte of Providence, was wounded in 
     the explosion.
       ``His death certainly brings out the reality of war. He 
     served in a life-and-death occupation on his regular job with 
     the city and, like other patriots, he went to serve his 
     country,'' said New Bedford Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr., 
     who ordered city flags to half-staff yesterday afternoon.
       Since Sgt. Camara was a police officer for four years, 
     Police Chief Carl K. Moniz drove to the Camaras home on 
     McGurk Street yesterday morning with a military attache 
     charged with telling Ana Camara that her husband had died.
       ``I think of all the things you go through in the course of 
     a career, that pales when compared to something such as the 
     circumstances today. Thank God I didn't have to say the words 
     about the loss of their loved one. That was left to someone 
     else. But I had to see the grief and anguish,'' Chief Moniz 
     said.
       Sgt. Camara was appointed to the Police Department on May 
     2, 1999. He patrolled city streets, at first from the South 
     End station and then from the North End station.
       ``He was very unassuming and calm,'' said Capt. Kevin 
     Hegarty, who supervised the North End station. ``He wasn't 
     excitable or an outspoken guy.''
       The ``quiet and competent'' officer, Capt. Hegarty said, 
     was a reassuring presence both at work and, according to this 
     neighbors, at home.
       ``We knew if there was a problem we could go right across 
     (the street),'' said neighbor Gary Cameron, 36, who said Sgt. 
     Camara's presence figured heavily in his decision to rent an 
     apartment on McGurk Street. The neighborhood was usually 
     peaceful when Sgt. Camara was around.
       ``He would come out and let you know if you were making too 
     much noise, to carry along,'' Mr. Cameron said.
       A 1981 graduate of New Bedford High School, Sgt. Camara was 
     once a general utility worker for Cliftex Clothing before he 
     studied to become a police officer, friends said.
       He joined the National Guard at 19 and neighbors often saw 
     him wearing his black beret and fatigues when he left for 
     training on the weekends or during longer two-week stints.
       He and his wife have three young children, two girls and a 
     boy, and she was nervous when his unit left in February for 
     Iraq, friends said.
       ``She said she wasn't crazy about him going,'' said Ivo 
     Furtado, 35.
       Neighbor Maria Ramos, 35, said she often spotted Sgt. 
     Camara piling his three children into the couple's Astro 
     before going to martial arts lessons. Other times, he could 
     be found playing ball on the street or sidewalk with the 
     neighborhood youths or out enjoying a walk in Hazelwood Park.
       ``He was always out there with the kids. He was a family-
     oriented man,'' said Ms. Ramos,

[[Page 21833]]

     who first met the Camara family when her daughter and their 
     children were in elementary school together.
       The Camara family, which gathered in yesterday's cold and 
     mist, declined to speak with reporters. Most remained inside 
     the family's three-story house, decorated with American flags 
     and yellow ribbons.
       ``They're not taking it too good,'' Mr. Furtado said. His 
     wife, Lucy, had approached Sgt. Camara's sister earlier in 
     the morning, just after the family had been notified.
       ``She couldn't believe he was gone,'' Mrs. Furtado said.
       During the afternoon, the Rev. John M. Sullivan, the city's 
     police chaplain and pastor of St. Lawrence Martyr Church, 
     visited the Camara family.
       ``One woman there, who is the wife of a police officer and 
     whose husband is in Iraq, said that you're always waiting for 
     your husband to come through the door, but when this happens 
     7,000 miles away from home, it is even more crushing,'' the 
     Rev. Sullivan said.
       He said there are no easy answers to explain the tragedies 
     of war.
       ``We always ask why, but there is no good reason when one 
     human being kills another whether in violence in the city or 
     in war. There are no easy answers to questions like that,'' 
     he said.
                                  ____


                [From the Standard-Times, Sept. 4, 2003]

             South Coast Officials Praise Officer's Service

                             (By Ray Henry)

       New Bedford.--The body of Staff Sgt. Joseph M. Camara, a 
     New Bedford police office killed this week in Iraq, was 
     scheduled to be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware 
     last night, the first step in what officials said will be a 
     long process of grief, ceremony and bureaucracy.
       Sgt. Camara, of 13 McGurk St., and Sgt. Charles Caldwell, 
     of North Providence, RI., both soldiers in the 115th Military 
     Policy Company of the Rhode Island National Guard, were 
     killed Monday when an improvised land mine exploded under 
     their Humvee on a road north of Baghdad. A third man, Spc. 
     Edmund Aponte of Providence, was seriously injured.
       As representatives of the Delaware Army National Guard 
     prepared to receive the bodies in a private ceremony, South 
     Coast congressmen praised Sgt. Camara's local and global 
     public service.
       ``He was a man who was willing to endanger himself to 
     protect others, both at home as a police officer, and abroad 
     as a soldier,'' said U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
       ``I know that words can do nothing to alleviate the pain 
     that the Camara family feels at the death of this brave 
     patriot,'' Rep. Frank said. ``But they should know that they 
     are joined by their friends, neighbors and, indeed, all other 
     Americans in mourning the loss of a good, courageous man who 
     gave his life for his country.''
       Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who lost a brother in 
     World War II, had similar wishes for the Camara family.
       ``When Sgt. Camara wasn't serving his nation in the Army in 
     Iraq, he proudly fought to keep the streets safe for the 
     families of New Bedford. He dedicated his life to protecting 
     others, and we will forever honor that service to family, 
     community and country,'' Sen. Kennedy said.
       Sgt. Camara's family declined to comment yesterday, but 
     neighbors continued to add flowers and candles along the 
     fence lining his family's three-story home in the South End.
       The Rhode Island National Guard has assigned two lieutenant 
     colonels to work as liaisons with the families of both slain 
     men, said Lt. Col. Michael B. McNamara, a unit spokesman.
       Both liaisons, known in military parlance as casualty 
     assistance officers, will help the families make funeral 
     arrangements and guide them through the process of claiming 
     benefits. The officer typically are assigned to families for 
     about 45 days, but they sometimes continue to answer family 
     inquiries for years.
       ``Their primary duty is to that family. That's their only 
     duty,'' Lt. Col. McNamara said. ``As you can imagine, being a 
     government program, there's a lot of paperwork.''
                                  ____


          [From the New Bedford Standard Times, Sept. 5, 2003]

                    Family, Service Were His Guides

                             (By Ray Henry)

       New Bedford.--After spending more than 20 years in uniform, 
     Staff Sgt. Joseph M. Camara turned in his retirement papers 
     to the Rhode Island Army National Guard.
       But defense officials barred the retirements of many 
     soldiers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, including 
     that of Sgt. Camara and others in the 115th Military Police 
     Company out of Cranston. In February, the unit was ordered to 
     Iraq where an exploding land mine on Monday killed Sgt. 
     Camara and Sgt. Charles Caldwell of North Providence on a 
     road north of Baghdad.
       ``He had turned in his papers and served his time, but he 
     didn't turn his back on his country,'' said his wife, Ana 
     Camara, in an interview yesterday in front of her family's 
     McGurk Street home.
       ``He loved being in the Army. He loved serving in the 
     Police Department. I've lost my soulmate. My children have 
     lost a wonderful father,'' she said.
       Lt. Col. Michael B. McNamara, a spokesman for the unit, 
     could not comment directly on Sgt. Camara's attempt to retire 
     but noted that regulations issued after the Sept. 11 terror 
     attacks on New York and the Pentagon kept many in Sgt. 
     Camara's company from leaving.
       Several family members were overcome by tears as they tried 
     to describe Sgt. Camara, who served in Saudi Arabia during 
     Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
       ``He was everything to me. He's my brother and now he's my 
     guardian angel,'' said his sister, Michelle Camara.
       Although Sgt. Camara had only been a New Bedford police 
     officer for four years, he had decided to ``serve and 
     protect'' long before he took the oath in October 1999. He 
     ran into his neighborhood's burning house on July 21, 1995, 
     to rescue an elderly woman and two children trapped by a 
     spreading kitchen fire.
       Mrs. Camara also remembered how her husband stopped on 
     Route 18 one night to guide traffic around a car that had 
     blown two tires. Others recalled this summer night two years 
     ago when Sgt. Camara ran out of his apartment barefoot and in 
     boxer shorts to chase a gunman driving down McGurk Street.
       ``He liked the right thing to go on in the world,'' said 
     his brother John Camara, explaining why Sgt. Camara became a 
     police officer. ``As long as his eyes were open, he'd be on 
     duty.''
       Despite his nearly lifelong interest in law enforcement, 
     Sgt. Camara was hesitant to apply for a job on the police 
     force, Mrs. Camara said. He opted instead to work for a 
     private security company, fearing the long hours and constant 
     stress would harm his family life.
       Finally, Mrs. Camara said she convinced her husband to aim 
     higher.
       ``I said, `Go, do it. You're driving me crazy. Don't worry 
     about us,''' she said.
       Although Sgt. Camara worked the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, 
     he remained a devoted father, she said. After a full night of 
     work, he once took his children to the ``Rugrats'' movie--and 
     only fell asleep once.
       As his son Matthew grew older, the duo enjoyed watching 
     wrestling matches and Monster Truck rallies, But he also rent 
     romantic dramas to watch with his wife, she said.
       For Sgt. Camara, ``children'' were an extended concept. The 
     couple had three of their own, but Sgt. Camara also referred 
     to the younger soldiers in the National Guard unit as ``my 
     kids,'' Mrs. Camara said. He once led a pack of 20 
     neighborhood youths on a bike ride that ended in a round of 
     slushies for everyone at a convenience store.
       ``That third shift never affected his family life,'' Mrs. 
     Camara said.
       The couple met through a mutual friend in New Bedford one 
     year after Sgt. Camara joined the military, she said. They 
     were friends before they started dating, a development that 
     she believed helped them to communicate directly in the years 
     that followed.
       She was away from her house on Tuesday when a National 
     Guard liaison arrived to inform her family on Sgt. Camara's 
     death. A telephone call from a relative urged her to quickly 
     return home, but a television reporter confronted her before 
     she opened her front door and saw the uniformed man waiting 
     inside.
       ``I step out of my van and there's a man with a camera 
     waiting for me. That was the most horrible thing I had ever 
     gone through,'' she said. ``When did my private life become a 
     media frenzy?''
       Yesterday, Mrs. Camara thanked the police officers and the 
     family members of the National Guard servicemen and -women 
     who have offered her support during the past week.
       ``It's a family and I feel like they'll never forget my 
     children,'' she said.

                          ____________________