[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
[August 5, 2002]
[Pages 1342-1345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks to Rescued Coal Miners and the Community in Green Tree,
Pennsylvania
August 5, 2002
Thank you very much. Governor, thanks for
your introduction. Thanks for your calm in the midst of crisis. I want
to thank you and all the good folks here in the State
[[Page 1343]]
of Pennsylvania who rallied to save the lives and help save the lives of
nine valuable citizens.
Today we're here to celebrate life, the value of life, and as
importantly, the spirit of America. I asked to come by to meet our nine
citizens and their families because I believe that what took place here
in Pennsylvania really represents the best of our country, what I call
the spirit of America, the great strength of our Nation. So I want to
thank you all for coming, for giving me chance to--and giving me a
chance to come and share with you the optimism and joy of a historic
moment.
First I do--I want to thank Dan Walsh of the
Green Tree Volunteer Fire Company for opening up this beautiful house
and inviting all these folks here. Dan, I want you to know I'm a proud
supporter of the Crawford Volunteer Fire Department. I understand how
important firefighters are, paid or volunteer. And so on behalf of a
grateful nation, I want to thank all the folks who work here at the
Green Tree and all those first-responders who are here with us today.
Thank you for being here.
I want to thank Elaine Chao of my Cabinet
and Dave Lauriski, who is the Department of
Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administrator, for being here. They tell
me, Dave, you did a fabulous job, and on behalf of our Nation, that's
what we expect you to do. [Laughter] Thanks for your good work.
I appreciate Members of the United States Senate--Senator
Specter and Congresswoman Hart and Congressman Chabot for
coming. I appreciate the attorney general being here. I appreciate State
Senator Earll being here.
I want to thank some special citizens who have come today. They're
what we call Freedom Corps greeters. They came out to the airport to say
hello to me. They represent a program called Jumpstart. These are
AmeriCorps workers. They're also college students. Well, at least five
of the six are college students. One is a graduate of Penn State; the
other go to the University of Pittsburgh.
The reason I'm--asked them to join us here is because I want you to
know, America can be saved, one person at a time. You see, this great
society of ours can be changed, one heart, one soul, one conscience at a
time. And as we're here to celebrate the victory of life, we've also got
to understand there are some lives who are troubled, some lives who are
despondent. Some people wonder whether not America is meant for them;
they live in pockets of hopelessness and despair. And these six heroic
students, people who have said, ``Listen, serving something greater than
myself in life is an important part of being a citizen,'' have been a
part of what's called Jumpstart. They're tutors to young kids, to make
sure the kids have a chance to learn to read and write and add and
subtract, have a chance to be a part of this great American experience.
And so I want to thank these soldiers in the armies of compassion for
setting a great example for their fellow college students and for some
of us old folks as well. Thank you all for coming; appreciate you being
here.
As I said, we're here to celebrate the spirit of America, and it's
represented by a lot of folks here, a lot of people involved with what
took place here in Pennsylvania and Somerset. First, the spirit is best
represented by the first-responders, the people who were at the site,
you know, people who heard the call that one of my neighbors is in
trouble, a fellow American is in need. We've got nine people trapped
below the earth who might lose their life, and your fellow Americans
came to your rescue. They came to work hour after hour, many of them
volunteers. None asked, ``Where am I going to get my next paycheck
from?'' All asked, ``What can I do? What can I do as an American to help
a neighbor in need?''
And so to the first-responders here, I want to thank you for your
spirit. For those
[[Page 1344]]
who volunteered hour after hour to save a fellow citizen, somebody you
didn't even know but were willing to sacrifice on behalf of that
citizen, thank you for a grateful nation--from a grateful nation. Thanks
for the example you set. Thanks for showing our fellow citizens that
by--serving something greater than yourself is an important part of
being an American. I truly believe the effort put in will serve as an
example for others in a time of crisis.
The spirit of America, the best of America was represented by those
who spent long hours worrying about the lives of their fellow citizens.
The best of America was also represented in the technology and know-how
of our mine safety folks, those who on a moment's notice used their
skill to devise a way to save life, took a look at the situation,
reacted to the environment, predicted what might happen miles below the
earth, and responded, and then rallied others. They set up a plan and a
strategy. They're--our folks are world-renowned for mine rescue, and the
Nation saw why. And there are nine lives here to testify that we're some
of the best at rescuing our fellow citizens. The best of America really
is the use of our technology and know-how to save lives and to help
others in need.
The spirit of America can best be seen with the families who are
here. A strong America is America based upon strong families. A strong
future for our country depends upon the strength of our family--husband
loving wife and wife loving husband, husband and wife dedicating
themselves to their children. The spirit of America was represented as
family members, wives and sons and daughters and moms and dads, prayed
for the safety of their loved one. They spent hours worrying about the
lives of somebody they called ``loved one.'' And out of this near
tragedy comes the living example of the importance of family.
It was my honor to meet the family members here today. I
appreciate--and I know your dads and your husbands appreciate much more
than me--the fact that you--the energy you spent on seeing that they
came out of that hole alive was an important part of rallying the
country.
And that's another part of the spirit of America I want to herald,
and that is the prayers that were said by thousands of your citizens--I
mean, people from all walks of life. They didn't say, ``I'm a
Republican. Therefore, I get to pray,'' or ``I'm a Democrat. I pray'';
``I don't care about either of them. I pray.'' Everybody prayed. A lot
of people--if I say ``everybody,'' I don't know if everybody prayed. I
can tell you, a lot prayed. A lot prayed for your safety. A lot prayed
for your families. A lot pled to an almighty God that you were rescued,
and thank God the prayers were answered.
But most of all, the spirit of America was represented by the
courage of the nine, nine folks trapped below the earth. They had one
sandwich and two bottles of water. These are people that had--had found
an unshakable faith, not only in their fellow citizens and their
families would be pulling for them but faith in God. These are men who,
as old Harry Mayhugh* put it, ``I just didn't
see how we were going to get out.'' That's what he said, ``I don't see
how we're going to get out.'' But he said, ``We're going to--we've got
to pull together to get out. ''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
*White House correction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other words, they understood that they needed to rely upon each
other, rely upon the strength of each. They huddled to keep warm. They
said prayers to keep their spirits up. They understood they needed to
tie together to fight the underground current. It was their
determination to stick together and to comfort each other that really
defines kind of a new spirit that's prevalent in our country, that when
one of us suffer, all of us suffers; that in order to succeed, we've got
to be united; that by working together, we can achieve big objectives
and big goals.
[[Page 1345]]
Here's a living example of people working together to save nine
precious lives, to make sure that nine families were reunited. And by
the way, it's that spirit that's help us--going to prevail in the big
challenges we face around the world, the challenge of making sure that
we hunt down every terrorist and bring them to justice, because we love
freedom.
It is the determined spirit of America and our optimism and our
ability to solve problems which will help us deal with the economic
downturn. It is--the great spirit of America will help us eradicate
pockets of despair and poverty.
I love to tell the world and our country that out of the evil done
to America will come incredible good. And part of that good is a culture
that says each of us are responsible for the decisions we make in life.
If you're a mom or a dad, you're responsible for loving your children
with all your heart and all your soul. But part of the era of
responsibility also is, you're responsible for helping a neighbor in
need. You're responsible for loving somebody like you'd like to be loved
yourself. You're responsible for the health of the community in which
you live. No, the spirit of America is alive and strong, as we found out
loud and clear in Somerset, Pennsylvania.
It's an honor to be here with you today. I want to thank you for the
example you set. May God bless you. May God bless your families, and may
God continue to bless America.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 10:57 a.m. at the Green Tree Volunteer Fire
Department. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Mark Schweiker, Attorney
General Mike Fisher, and State Senator Jane M. Earll of Pennsylvania.
The nine miners were rescued from a flooded coal mine in Somerset, PA,
on July 28.