[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12156]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO WEST POINT CADET JACOB BOWER

  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay honor to a life cut 
tragically short, to a young man whose service to this country went 
beyond the call of duty.
  West Point Cadet Jacob Bower, from my great State of West Virginia, 
and my hometown of Fairmont, died at the age of 18 last week and will 
be laid to rest Friday at a family cemetery with full military rights.
  Cadet Bower was the sort of young man who would make any--any--parent 
proud. He was a three-sport athlete at East Fairmont High School, where 
he graduated in 2011. He was in the National Honor Society and was 
valedictorian of his graduating class. He was a role model and led his 
peers by example.
  Cadet Bower had something that set him apart: He was a young man who 
felt the spark to attend West Point. I learned from his mother Ginger 
that as a young man--or a boy, really--he was very interested in 
history. He studied the paths that have formed our greatest leaders--
the men and women whose names are in the history books. He learned the 
best of the best have attended our military academies, and he told his 
mother that is what he wanted to do. I think he wanted to be in the 
history books. He wanted to be a part of that. He wanted to give 
something back. He told his mother: Mom, I have had everything given to 
me. It is time for me to give back now.
  Cadet Bower was 18 when he died during a land navigation exercise 
Thursday of what may be a heat-related cause, though we are not sure 
yet and it is too early to tell. We do know that Cadet Bower trained 
vigorously before the exercise and had successfully completed the first 
3 weeks of his 6 weeks of basic training.
  Nothing can explain a death so tragic, a life cut so unfairly short. 
This is the one time, above all others, that you have to believe and 
trust in your faith. My wife Gayle and I send our prayers and thoughts 
to Cadet Bower's mother Ginger, his father Dean, his brother Ryan, and 
the entire Bower family and all their friends. We continue to pray 
every day for the safety of the brave women and men who put their lives 
on the line every day for all of us.
  Mere words cannot pay tribute to the magnitude of this tragedy and 
the depth of his sacrifice. In these challenging times, our entire 
country would do well to think of Cadet Jacob Bower as we work together 
to put this country first, as he did, before our own interests. Our 
thoughts and prayers are with this family. May God bless them through 
this difficult time, and may God continue to bless the United States of 
America.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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