    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [April 6, 1996]
    [Pages 554-556]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Honoring Those Who Died in the Aircraft Tragedy in Croatia at
    Dover Air Force Base, Delaware
    April 6, 1996

        My fellow Americans, today we come to a place that has seen too many
    sad, silent homecomings. For this is where we in America bring home our
    own, those who have given their lives in the service of their country.
        The 33 fine Americans we meet today, on their last journey home,
    ended their lives on a hard mountain a long way from home. But in a way,
    they never left America. On their mission of peace and hope, they
    carried with them America's spirit, what our greatest martyr, Abraham
    Lincoln, called ``the last, best hope of Earth.''
        Our loved ones and friends loved their country, and they loved
    serving their country. They believed that America, through their
    efforts, could help to restore a broken land, help to heal a people of
    their hatreds, help to bring a better tomorrow through honest work and
    shared enterprise. They knew what their country

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    had given them, and they gave it back with a force, an energy, an
    optimism that every one of us can be proud of.
        They were outstanding business leaders who gave their employees and
    their customers their very best. They were brave members of our
    military, dedicated to preserving our freedom and advancing America's
    cause.
        There was a brilliant correspondent, committed to helping Americans
    better understand this complicated new world we live in. And there were
    public servants, some of them still in the fresh springtime of their
    years, who gave nothing less than everything they had, because they
    believed in the nobility of public service.
        And there was a noble Secretary of Commerce who never saw a mountain
    he couldn't climb or a river he couldn't build a bridge across.
        All of them were so full of possibility. Even as we grieve for what
    their lives might have been, let us celebrate what their lives were, for
    their public achievements and their private victories of love and
    kindness and devotion are things that no one--no one--could do anything
    but treasure.
        These 33 lives show us the best of America. They are a stern rebuke
    to the cynicism that is all too familiar today. For as family after
    family after family told the Vice President and Hillary and me today,
    their loved ones were proud of what they were doing; they believed in
    what they were doing; they believed in this country; they believed we
    could make a difference. How silly they make cynicism seem. And more
    important, they were a glowing testimonial to the power of individuals
    to improve their own lives and elevate the lives of others and make a
    better future for others. These 33 people loved America enough to use
    what is best about it in their own lives, to try to help solve a problem
    a long, long way from home.
        At the first of this interminable week, Ron Brown came to the White
    House to visit with me and the Vice President and a few others. And at
    the end of the visit he was bubbling with enthusiasm about this mission.
    And he went through all the people from the Commerce Department who were
    going. And then he went through every single business leader that was
    going. And he said, ``You know, I've taken so many of these missions to
    advance America's economic interest and to generate jobs for Americans;
    these business people are going on this mission because they want to use
    the power of the American economy to save the peace in the Balkans.''
    That is a noble thing. Nearly 5,000 miles from home, they went to help
    people build their own homes and roads, to turn on the lights in cities
    darkened by war, to restore the everyday interchange of people working
    and living together with something to look forward to and a dream to
    raise their own children by.
        You know, we can say a lot of things, because these people were many
    things to those who loved them. But I say to all of you, to every
    American, they were all patriots; whether soldiers or civil servants or
    committed citizens, they were patriots. In their memory and in their
    honor, let us rededicate our lives to our country and to our fellow
    citizens. In their memory and in their honor, let us resolve to continue
    their mission of peace and healing and progress. We must not let their
    mission fail. And we will not let their mission fail.
        The sun is going down on this day. The next time it rises it will be
    Easter morning, a day that marks the passage from loss and despair to
    hope and redemption, a day that more than any other reminds us that life
    is more than what we know, life is more than what we can understand,
    life is more than sometimes even we can bear, but life is also eternal.
    For each of these 33 of our fellow Americans and the two fine Croatians
    that fell with them, their day on Earth was too short, but for our
    country men and women we must remember that what they did while the sun
    was out will last with us forever.
        If I may now, I would like to read the names of all of them, in
    honor of their lives, their service, and their families:

        Staff Sergeant Gerald Aldrich
        Ronald Brown
        Duane Christian
        Barry Conrad
        Paul Cushman III
        Adam Darling
        Captain Ashley James Davis
        Gail Dobert
        Robert Donovan
        Claudio Elia
        Staff Sergeant Robert Farrington, Jr.
        David Ford
        Carol Hamilton
        Kathryn Hoffman

    [[Page 556]]

        Lee Jackson
        Stephen Kaminski
        Katherine Kellogg
        Technical Sergeant Shelly Kelly
        James Lewek
        Frank Maier
        Charles Meissner
        William Morton
        Walter Murphy
        Lawrence Payne
        Nathaniel Nash
        Leonard Pieroni
        Captain Timothy Schafer
        John Scoville
        I. Donald Terner
        P. Stuart Tholan
        Technical Sergeant Cheryl Ann Turnage
        Naomi Warbasse
        Robert Al Whittaker

        Today we bring their bodies back home to America, but their souls
    are surely at home with God. We welcome them home. We miss them. We ask
    God to be with them and their families.
        God bless you all, and God bless our beloved Nation. Amen.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:20 p.m. in Hangar 706 at Dover Air Force
    Base.