[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      IN TRIBUTE TO REPRESENTATIVE JOHN P. MURTHA OF PENNSYLVANIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, many speakers have preceded me today in 
speaking about Mr. Murtha--and I will always call him Mr. Murtha 
because that's how I referred to him here in the House and that's how I 
will refer to him in memory.
  I only had the opportunity to serve with him for 3 years, and I feel 
certainly inadequate in being the last person to speak, but this man 
was my friend. He was like a father figure to me.
  When I was thinking about running for Congress, I came up here to 
view Congress and think about it. I wasn't sure if I was going to run 
or not. I went up in that gallery and I sat on this left side of the 
aisle, Madam Speaker. I looked at the floor and all the people down 
here and I thought about whether or not I wanted to run. But coming up 
here, I was in Rayburn, and I walked up by the train that comes from 
Rayburn to the Capitol. And this man came up to me, this gentleman--I 
didn't know him--and he put his arm around me and we talked on the way 
up and walked all the way down the path. And he said, Young man, this 
is going to be like 1974. It's going to be a great year for Democrats.
  We got up the elevator--and I was so proud to be in this building--
and we got to the top and he went to the left where you enter the 
Speaker's lobby and come onto this floor and I went around the way to 
this gallery where visitors go. He said, Next time you come up here, I 
hope you can come in here with me. And it was the next time I got to 
come in here with him.
  I was so proud every time I got to go over--I read about ``Murtha's 
Corner'' in The New York Times, and then I find myself over there with 
mostly folks from Pennsylvania, but also the different people that were 
fond of Mr. Murtha. I was standing there and I thought, I remember 
reading about Murtha's Corner, now I'm in Murtha's Corner. And I was in 
his corner and he was in mine. When I needed help for my community and 
learning about appropriations, defense appropriations and how they 
could benefit this country and my community and my universities, he 
helped me. He always helped me. And I helped him when he was in need in 
his last election.
  I made the trip to Johnstown for his funeral, and I am so happy I did 
and I am happy to be here. I could not let this opportunity pass to 
speak about this great American. It has been talked about he was a 
marine and he was the first from Vietnam to be elected--he was part of 
that class--and he stood up and received the John F. Kennedy Profiles 
in Courage Award. All is true. But the bottom line is he was a good 
human being.
  ``Avuncular'' is a word I learned when I was in high school, uncle-
like figure, and I guess he was an uncle-like figure. He was just a 
grand, good human being. I will miss him. This House will miss him. And 
I am just fortunate that I passed this way at the same time he did and 
got to change time with him in life.
  Thank you, Jack Murtha.

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