[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 29660-29662]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, in these difficult days when the brave 
men and women of our Armed Forces face such great dangers in Iraq, we 
continue to mourn the losses of our heroes who gave their lives in past 
wars. One of those heroes is Major Richard W. Cooper, Jr., of Holyoke, 
MA, and his loss is very much in our minds now. Major Cooper was a 
navigator aboard a B-52 bomber from Westover Air Force Base. He was on 
one of the final bombing runs in the Vietnam War in 1972, and his plane 
went down on December 19 of that year. He has been listed as Missing in 
Action ever since. The Air Force never gave up the search and recently, 
his remains were discovered and identified through the Joint Task Force 
Full Accounting operation in Vietnam. Next month, on December 19, at 
long last, 31 years to the day after his final mission for our country, 
Major Cooper will be laid to rest with full military honors in 
Arlington National Cemetery.
  Major Cooper earned many decorations for his loyal service to our 
country, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, and we honor his 
great courage. Our Nation has often called its sons and daughters into 
harm's way, and their families bear the scars of battle forever. 
America owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Major Cooper and his 
family, and our thoughts and prayers are very much with them now. 
Massachusetts is proud of him and so is our country.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I seek recognition to honor a Virginia 
Soldier, CWO Sharon T. Swartworth, who was tragically killed in action 
in Iraq on Friday, November 7, 2003. I want to express gratitude, on 
behalf of the Senate, for her service to our Nation. The American 
people, I am certain, join me in expressing their prayers and 
compassion to her family.
  CWO Sharon T. Swartworth entered the Army shortly before her 
eighteenth birthday, her father signing the papers allowing her to 
enlist early. ``She traveled around the world before she was

[[Page 29661]]

assigned to the Pentagon.'' She understood the importance of her 
present assignment and despite the personal risk, wanted to serve the 
United States and the people of Iraq during this critical time.
  A warrant officer of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, she served 
as the primary adviser to the judge advocate general on all matters 
concerning legal administrators in the Army. She was temporarily in 
Iraq to process awards for deserving soldiers and to ensure the legal 
needs of soldiers were being met.
  CWO Sharon T. Swartworth leaves behind: her son, William III; her 
husband, William, a captain of the Naval Medical Corps; and her father, 
Bernard Mayo.
  I, among many friends and colleagues, attended the ceremony at 
Arlington Cemetery. Her family, who has borne this tragedy with 
dignity, are brave souls who have sacrificed so much for this Nation. 
We owe them and the other families who have lost their loved ones a 
debt of gratitude.
  She was an exceptional woman with a bright future and family in front 
of her. Her father related, ``She did it all, and we can be proud of 
her. She was a soldier.'' I can not craft a finer eulogy. The 
Commonwealth of Virginia and the entire Nation shall mourn her loss.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I was deeply saddened to learn yesterday 
of the death in Iraq of another of Vermont's sons. LT Pierre Piche of 
Starksboro, VT was one of 17 brave young soldiers who died in the crash 
of two Blackhawk helicopters last Saturday. This brings to five the 
number of Vermonters who have given their lives in Iraq.
  The newspaper articles reporting on the death of Lieutenant Piche, 
and also on the Nov. 7 death of SSG Scott Rose, a young man whose wife 
and parents in-law are from Springfield, VT, bring home the heart-
wrenching pain felt by those who have lost a son or daughter, mother or 
father, sister or brother, or close friend in this war.
  Lieutenant Piche was Lisa Johnson's only child. Ms. Johnson speaks of 
the daily anxiety she faced hearing the reports of dead and wounded and 
wondering if it was her son. At first, she turned for consolation to 
her father, a World War II veteran. Tragically, he died in July. 
Hearing reports of the helicopter crash last Saturday, she spent the 
rest of the weekend with her stomach in knots until she received a 
phone call from her daughter in-law, Cherish, with the simple, chilling 
words ``They're here.''
  Army officers had come to Lieutenant Piche's home to tell his wife 
that the lieutenant was dead. An hour later, officers arrived at Ms. 
Johnson's home to deliver the same message.
  Staff Sergeant Rose became a father for the first time on July 31. He 
never saw his child, though. He already had left for Iraq and was 
unable to get home on leave before the tragic crash that ended his 
life. His wife Michele Rose is now left to raise their infant daughter 
in his absence.
  I have been concerned throughout this conflict, and most particularly 
during the recent debate on the President's request for an additional 
$87 billion, that our focus on the financial costs and broader 
strategic and tactical questions associated with the war has blinded us 
somewhat to the brutal anguish faced by those who have lost a loved one 
in Iraq. We must never forget that each and every casualty suffered in 
Iraq delivers a crushing blow to many here at home. Moreover, we must 
have sympathy for the terrible anxiety faced daily by the families of 
men and women serving in Iraq. This war has many victims and we must 
not lose sight of their pain.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the two newspaper 
articles detailing this war's effects on the lives of these two Vermont 
families.
  There being objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

            [From the Burlington Free Press, Nov. 18, 2003]

                   Fifth Vermont Soldier Dies in Iraq

                         (By Brent Hallenbeck)

       Starksboro.--Pierre Piche last spoke to his mother a few 
     weeks ago by phone from Iraq. He told her he wanted to come 
     home to his wife of 3 years and earn his master's degree so 
     he could become a teacher.
       His mother had recently sent him a rubber koi fish, and he 
     said he planned to have a pond filled with the tranquil 
     Japanese fish. ``He tried not to focus on how dangerous it 
     was getting over there. He just wanted peace,'' his mother, 
     Lisa Johnson, said Monday afternoon at her home in 
     Starksboro. ``He was determined to do what he needed to do to 
     keep his men safe and get home.''
       Piche, 28 and 16 of his fellow soldiers died Saturday when 
     their Black Hawk helicopters crashed, possibly as a result of 
     enemy fire, in Mosul, Iraq. The crash is the single deadliest 
     incident since the war began in Iraq 8 months ago.
       Piche, a first lieutenant with the Army's 101st Airborne 
     Division, is the fifth soldier with Vermont roots to die in 
     the war. He is the only child of Lisa Johnson, who has wanted 
     to pull Piche back into her arms ever since he was deployed 
     to Iraq a month before the war began.
       ``I wanted to take him home. When your child goes into 
     something dangerous, a mother goes and gets him,'' Johnson 
     said, fighting tears. ``It's been a pretty hellish time since 
     February.''
       Piche grew up in Colchester, where he attended Malletts Bay 
     School. His mother remembers that Piche was a complex child 
     who would ask heavy questions about the origins of the 
     universe or the workings of the human body and expect, almost 
     demand, an answer.
       ``When he was born I called him my Mr. Magoo because he was 
     this very serious little boy,'' she said, pointing to a 
     photograph of her and her 2-year-old son sitting in the 
     woods. The child was wearing an expression that was intense 
     but wise. ``He was like a little old man right away,'' she 
     said.
       He was also ``full of all the right kind of mischief,'' 
     according to Hugh Johnson, who became his stepfather when 
     Piche was 6. He remembers once that his stepson tried 
     unsuccessfully to ride his bike up a boat ramp on dry land. 
     ``Suddenly there was a great tumbling of boy and steel,'' 
     Hugh Johnson said.
       The family moved when Piche was 9 to South Hero, where he 
     attended Folsom School. Lisa Johnson said he demonstrated his 
     kindly nature by taking in all sorts of animals, from dogs 
     and cats to iguanas, chickens and geese.
       The family moved to Starksboro when Piche was 14. He went 
     to private school in Connecticut, then college, including for 
     a time the University of Vermont. He graduated from Middle 
     Tennessee State in 1998 after majoring in political science.
       Piche was always patriotic and believed in serving his 
     country, his mother said. While in college he joined the Army 
     Reserve and soon after entered the Army full-time, rising 
     through the ranks of the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell, KY, 
     where he and his wife, Cherish, made their home.
       Pierre Piche made his final visit to Vermont last 
     Christmas. Friends and family came to Starksboro for festive 
     holiday parties. He took Cherish Piche, who has lived in the 
     South most of her life, out for snowmobile rides and sledding 
     expeditions.
       War in Iraq was looming last December, and Piche and his 
     mother knew he was likely to be deployed. ``I deliberately 
     avoided that subject,'' Lisa Johnson said. ``He didn't want 
     to talk about it either. We knew, and there wasn't any 
     point.''
       She held out hope he would be safe. Months earlier, he had 
     switched jobs, from a command post to maintenance duties that 
     would perhaps be less risky. ``The idea was he wouldn't be 
     out there on the front line,'' Hugh Johnson said.
       Piche arrived in Iraq 9 months ago, and the Johnsons 
     followed the news intently from Starksboro. Whenever Lisa 
     Johnson heard a soldier died anywhere near where she believed 
     her son was she would cry, and immediately struggle to gather 
     her senses--as a social worker, she said it was essential to 
     be composed.
       Her father, Robert Fusco of Jonesville, would console her. 
     A World War II veteran, Fusco would tell her Piche was well-
     trained, smart and vigilant, and would make sure he and his 
     soldiers would come home. ``Anytime I got scared my father 
     would tell me to toughen up,'' Lisa Johnson said. Fusco died 
     of heart failure July 8, proud to the end of his grandson's 
     accomplishments.
       Piche e-mailed his mother often, and recently sent photos 
     showing him in his cropped brown hair and brown camouflage 
     while holding an automatic weapon.
       Another photo showed him in uniform holding a dog. Lisa 
     Johnson said he frequently discovered abandoned pets in Iraq 
     and tried to find good homes for them. ``Even in the middle 
     of chaos he could find good things,'' she said. ``That's what 
     good guys do.''
       Piche's unit was being moved from one location to another 
     Saturday, a move he was dreading. He told his mother that 
     Iraq was becoming a more dangerous place--more aggressive, 
     less predictable.
       She heard Saturday about the two helicopters crashing in 
     Mosul. ``I spent the rest of the weekend in knots,'' she 
     said. She and Cherish Piche spoke by phone all day Saturday, 
     telling each other that they hoped by some fluke Piche was 
     not on either of those helicopters, and just couldn't get to 
     a computer to e-mail either of them to say he was

[[Page 29662]]

     safe. Then Cherish Piche called Sunday afternoon. Her words 
     were simple: ``They're here.'' Army soldiers had come to her 
     home at Fort Campbell to say that her husband was dead.
       An hour later, at 5 p.m., two soldiers came to the gray 
     Cape Cod on Big Hollow Road to give Lisa and Hugh Johnson the 
     same news. ``I just said, `No, no, no,' and I went outside 
     and I was crazy,'' Lisa Johnson said. She wandered through 
     the miles of woods behind her home. ``I just cried and 
     screamed--`No, it can't be, it just can't be.'''
       Hugh Johnson said he knows that if he could, his stepson 
     would have been trying to save his fellow soldiers until the 
     last minute. Pride doesn't translate to solace, not when 
     parents are mourning the loss of a son who was always giving 
     to others. ``It's such a waste,'' Hugh Johnson said. ``He 
     should have had another 60 years of doing that.'' ``I'm proud 
     of him and I'm proud of him no matter what,'' Lisa Johnson 
     said. ``That doesn't make his dying any easier.''
       The Johnsons and Piche's widow are making funeral 
     arrangements while awaiting for his body to return home. Lisa 
     Johnson said they hope to bury him near his grandfather, 
     Fusco, at Holy Rosary Cemetery in Richmond.
       Meanwhile, the family is welcoming a constant flow of 
     visitors bearing generous amounts of food and any words of 
     consolation they can muster. The food and the words are 
     appreciated, Lisa Johnson said, but not important. ``All that 
     matters,'' she said, ``is that they loved him.''
                                  ____


                [From the Rutland Herald, Nov. 18, 2003]

        Soldier Killed in Iraq Will Be Eulogized in Springfield

                          (By Susan Smallheer)

       Springfield.--An Army soldier who died in Iraq without ever 
     holding his newborn daughter will be eulogized with full 
     military honors Saturday in Springfield. Staff Sgt. Scott C. 
     Rose, 30, whose wife, Michele, is from Springfield, will 
     receive full military honors and a special farewell Saturday 
     at St. Mary's Catholic Church, according to Rose's father, 
     Alfred Rose of Fayetteville, N.C.
       Rose was one of six soldiers who died on Nov. 7 near Tikrit 
     when their Black Hawk helicopter came under attack, exploded 
     and fell to the ground. He had been in Iraq since April. Rose 
     was the crew chief.
       Alfred Rose said his son and his wife met at North Carolina 
     State University and married, living at Fort Campbell, Ky., 
     the base of the 101st Airborne Division. Michele (Basso) Rose 
     gave birth to their daughter Meghan Louise at Fort Campbell 
     on July 31, and the baby never met her father, the elder Rose 
     said.
       Rose said that he was able to hook up a Web camera so his 
     son could watch the baby over the Internet from Iraq, but 
     that he died before he was able to get leave and come home to 
     visit his new daughter. She is the couple's only child.
       Rose said his son died with three of his fellow crew 
     members, all of whom were very close friends. According to 
     news reports, the Black Hawk was transporting two officials 
     from the Army's Judge Advocate General corps from the 
     Pentagon when the helicopter was hit.
       Alfred Rose, himself a retired lieutenant colonel from the 
     82nd Airborne Division, said his son's mission on Nov. 7 was 
     to transport ``command and control'' personnel from Mosul to 
     Tikrit. His son was the crew chief.
       He said his son was born in Attleboro, Mass., but grew up 
     in North Carolina, attending high school in Fayetteville. He 
     was captain of the wrestling team and also played soccer, was 
     also involved in drama and debate. He graduated second in his 
     class and attended North Carolina State on a full Navy 
     scholarship.
       But he switched to the Army even after receiving orders to 
     the Navy's prestigious flight school in Pensacola, Fla., his 
     father said, to combine his love of flying and his wish to be 
     a family man. Navy flight training involves six month stints 
     on aircraft carriers. ``However, the world situation turned 
     sour and he was deployed nearly continuously from Bosnia to 
     the NCO School in Virginia and immediately to Iraq. Scott 
     badly wanted to join his unit, which was already over 
     there,'' his father recalled.
       His father called him ``the Tom Cruise of the Lancer flight 
     line, he loved his work, he loved to teach others.'' ``He was 
     one of those rare great men, soldier, leader, husband, father 
     . . . our son,'' he said.
       The elder Rose said his son's unit was not expected back 
     from Iraq until February or March 2004. According to an 
     article in the Fayetteville Observer, Rose had started flying 
     when he was 14 years old. In college, he started studying 
     aeronautical engineering, but switched to history.
       His son called his helicopter ``Goat 26431.'' He named it 
     so in honor of his grandfather's military aircraft, which was 
     also nicknamed Goat. His grandfather also died on active 
     duty.
       The father said his son's helicopter came under fire the 
     morning of Nov. 7. A second Black Hawk helicopter was 
     following close behind and was not hit, but Rose said those 
     in the second helicopter heard the impact of the weapon, saw 
     flames erupt and his son's helicopter crash. At the time the 
     helicopter was hit, they were about 280 feet above the ground 
     and had slowed to make a landing in a designated area.
       His son received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, as well 
     as the Army Commendation medal. His wife's father and 
     stepmother, Alfred and Paula Basso, live on Poppe Road in 
     Springfield, according to William Young, director of the 
     David Memorial Chapel, which is working closely with the 
     military to plan Saturday's funeral. Details of the service 
     are still being worked out, according to a spokesman at the 
     funeral home.
       Young said Rose would not be buried in Vermont as his 
     remains were being cremated. The elder Rose said that a 
     memorial account in his son's name has been set up to benefit 
     his infant daughter at the Bryant Credit Union in 
     Springfield.

                          ____________________