[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1812-1813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                        IN MEMORY OF JACK MURTHA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Halvorson). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FARR. I live in Carmel, California, and when the phone rang and I 
heard that Jack Murtha had died, I couldn't believe it. I broke into 
tears. I just couldn't believe it. It was like when I heard my father 
had died. And what I did at that moment was I did the same thing when 
my dad died. I sat

[[Page 1813]]

down and I wrote a letter to Jack Murtha. Here it is:
  ``Dear Jack, I can't believe you're gone. Gone from the Pennsylvania 
Corner, from your chair where we would all come to see you. Each 
checking in during floor sessions on your opinion on military issues 
and Pennsylvania politics. And we talked about our issues, about base 
closure progress, about programs that were working and programs that 
had problems. Always thanking you for your help. Thanking you for your 
earmarks. I'll never forget what you did with your earmark for breast 
cancer research, for child care centers at military bases, for military 
education. More than anything else, you were concerned about the 
welfare of our troops and especially their families.
  ``Remember when you got me to go to Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda 
Naval Hospital to visit the war wounded and how we worked to get golf 
carts for disabled soldiers by insisting that each of the 177 golf 
courses operated by the services have carts for the disabled?

                              {time}  1830

  ``You always asked me, `How is that university that we got at Fort 
Ord doing?' I thanked you for the help in getting the $65 million to 
get it started. Jack, Cal State University Monterey Bay is doing really 
well, with ever-growing enrollment and faculty. You can be proud of 
your role you played in converting swords to ploughshares.
  ``You got really excited when I showed you what I had done to bring 
all the military missions in Monterey County together to form Team 
Monterey, showing the brochure indicating that over $1 billion was 
spent in Monterey County for the DOD efforts there. You were going to 
see if this team effort could be done for your district and for the 
State of Pennsylvania.
  ``Jack, you were quite the Zeus. Everyone came to you, loved you, 
loved your good nature, your loyalty, your friendship, your laugh, and 
your wisdom. Remember how you would bet on how long the debate would 
take on the Defense appropriations bills? You always won. I was shocked 
that the biggest appropriations account in the Federal Government could 
be enacted with the shortest debate. You laughed and said, `All the 
problems were worked out in committee, we don't need floor debate.' At 
first I thought it was a fluke. But over the years, I learned you made 
it so.
  ``Jack, thanks for coming out to the Monterey Peninsula to visit the 
Naval Postgraduate School and the Defense Language Institute. You were 
a good listener, and always insisted no PowerPoints, no BS, just the 
problems. No one in Congress cuts to the issue faster than you.
  ``I remember your delight in hearing from an IED specialist just back 
from Iraq who asked you, `Why don't we figure out what makes cultures 
set these things off in the first place?' You loved that thinking. 
Thanks again for allowing me to ride back to D.C. on Mil Air. We 
brought Paul Stockton along and had a wonderful discussion on Iraq and 
how we might exit. By the way, Jack, Paul is now the Assistant 
Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security 
Affairs. I know how much you respected his insight.
  ``Thanks, Jack, for always asking me for copies of photos I took, not 
of you, but of your staff. I remember the photo of John Hugya when he 
was your district director taken with President Clinton. You insisted I 
give it to you for him. Remember the time you hung up on a President 
when he called you? You had guts.
  ``I remember going to your district and being in a meeting with the 
area economic development folks. You were giving them the Washington 
update. It was cold and wet, but full of people. I admired how devoted 
they were to you. And I took pictures, which you wanted to pass on to 
them. Seeing the countryside and the poverty of the area made me 
realize how lucky I was to represent my district. You really helped 
people in need. That is why you are loved in your district and here on 
the floor of the House of Representatives.
  ``The House Chamber has a lot of famous fixtures and paintings, 
statues, reliefs, but you are going to stand out as one of our greats. 
You showed your profile in courage in taking a nationally profiled lead 
against the war in Iraq that you originally supported. And you were 
attacked by everyone except the military. They knew that you knew it 
couldn't be sustained.
  ``When they attacked you with big campaign expenditures to defeat 
you, your friends responded without even being asked. The word was out 
Jack was in trouble, and we responded.
  ``Jack, you shouldn't have died. It is a real shock, not only to you, 
your friends, and this institution, but to your beloved family. You and 
Joyce had such a special partnership.
  ``I loved accompanying you both on the Appropriations Committee CODEL 
to California's National Parks, the joy you got in seeing how a former 
army base in San Francisco could be turned into the Golden Gate 
National Park, and even Alcatraz is now a tourist site. You loved being 
a tourist in San Francisco and Joyce was so appreciative of Nancy 
Pelosi's hospitality long before she sought leadership roles.
  ``While the Democratic Caucus was visiting Nemacolin Resort in your 
state you encouraged me to visit the two Frank Lloyd Wright homes 
there. Joyce led the tour. She was a model host and a good friend to 
all. I can't imagine her life without you, nor yours without her. This 
has to be as hard for your children as it was for me in losing my mom 
at an early age. Time heals--unfortunately it is going to take a long 
time.
  ``Congress will miss you as a great member and, more importantly, as 
a caring, sensitive friend. We will try to fill in, but the credibility 
will be lacking and the outcome less successful.
  ``Just know you made a difference, a big difference--out here on the 
Central Coast of California--you helped launch a new university, 
upgrade the Naval Postgratuate School, and provided the programs that 
let our students learn foreign languages faster and better.
  ``You were the Captain of our ship, and Oh Captain, you will be 
sorely missed!''
  I'd like to include the letters from the Naval Postgraduate School 
and the Defense Manpower Data Center in Monterey in sympathy.

                                    Naval Postgraduate School,

                                                     Monterey, CA.
       Congressman Murtha was a true servant to the public, a 
     throwback with few peers matching his length of service to 
     the U.S. House of Representatives. Service to his nation was 
     perhaps a constant throughout his life--not only is he one of 
     our nation's longest serving representatives, he was also a 
     retired Marine Corps colonel, joining the service in 1952 
     during the Korean War out of a deep sense of obligation to 
     his country.
       Congressman Murtha also served as Chairman of the Defense 
     Appropriations Subcommittee--and was the ranking Democrat on 
     the committee for nearly two decades--which put him in a 
     position to impact so many communities far beyond 
     Pennsylvania's 12th District.
       That impact was felt here at the Naval Postgraduates 
     School, where he was a friend to NPS. He believed in the 
     value of graduate education for military officers and was 
     consistently and particularly supportive of NPS over the 
     years. Congressman Murtha recognized the value of the NPS 
     MISSION in supporting our military forces and NPS unique 
     contributions to national security.
                                               Leonard A. Ferrari,
     Executive Vice President & Provost.
                                  ____

         Department of Defense, Human Resources Activity, Defense 
           Manpower Data Center,
                                                      Seaside, CA.
       Chairman Murtha was a great American and a steadfast friend 
     of the members of the Armed Forces and their families. He 
     exemplified the best of our Nation's values and was the 
     iconic example of a patriot. As a decorated veteran he 
     identified closely with Service members and his tireless 
     efforts to see that they were adequately compensated, well-
     trained, well-led and provided with the best equipment were 
     legendary. As a direct result of his four decades of 
     leadership in the Congress our ability to support and defend 
     our Nation remains unsurpassed. His unwavering support for 
     Defense organizations in the Monterey area was of enormous 
     value to the Nation.
       Every American owes him a great, great debt.

                          ____________________