    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 32 (Monday, August 12, 2002)]
    [Pages 1307-1309]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    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 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

    [[Page 1308]]

    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 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--
    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.
        Here's a living example of people working together to save nine
    precious lives, to make

    [[Page 1309]]

    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 and State
    Attorney General Mike Fisher of Pennsylvania. The nine miners were
    rescued from a flooded coal mine in Somerset, PA, on July 28.