[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

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    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.