    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 15 (Monday, April 17, 2000)]
    [Page 785]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on the V-22 Aircraft Tragedy

    April 9, 2000

        On Saturday, April 8, the United States lost brave members of the
    Marine Corps, who died in the line of duty in the service of their
    country. They sacrificed their lives in a training accident involving a
    V-22 aircraft in Arizona. This terrible loss of life is a reminder of
    how so many men and women in the Nation's military put their lives at
    risk each and every day, so that we might be a free people and the cause
    of peace can be advanced throughout the world.
        Hillary and I offer our prayers for those we have so suddenly lost
    and for their family and friends, whose burden of grief is so great. We
    pray that God may bless them all. Though their names and faces were not
    known to most of America before this tragic moment, I know that the
    American people will recognize in their names and faces in the days
    ahead the genuine quality of heroism.