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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | ||||
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| REMARKS BY: | TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES |
| PLACE: | The Dillingham Aircraft Crash Victims, Dillingham, Alaska |
| DATE: | August 3, 2002 |
On September 11th, 2001, our nation came to know grief and anguish in a profound way. And four weeks later, on October 10th, that sorrow was intensified for the citizens of Alaska when a PenAir Cessna 208 Caravan crashed into the tundra near Dillingham.
Some of their loved ones are with us today the Larsons and the Andrews. Let me express to you all, and to the families and loved ones of all the other victims, my deepest sympathy.
I cannot readily imagine the hurt you must still be feeling. Time can dull the searing sense of pain that seizes us in the first hours of mourning. Yet time never removes the enduring ache, the stone-like grief that weighs heavily in our hearts, as we think about a husband or wife gone a father or mother lost a son or daughter who has passed away.
Those who perished were not only beloved family members and dear friends. They were public citizens, men and women whose professional lives were devoted to the service of others.
Ten members of the Dillingham community were lost, including members of the Bristol Bay Native Association Board BBNA staff and an elder of the community.
These wonderful Americans died in the service of their country. There can be few things more honorable. And in their loyal dedication, they speak to us yet today of the nobility of service the importance of compassion and the virtue of selflessness.
My friends, it is at times like this that words seem so inadequate when expressions of sympathy seem so incomplete, so lacking.
But words matter, because they represent our deepest selves, our strongest convictions, our fondest memories.
The words we speak today are not wishful platitudes. They are the expressions of our hearts, of who we are and of our desire to commemorate the lives of ten men and women who loved and laughed felt the wind and the sun, the good times and the bad the touch of a child's hand the warmth of a parent's hug the kindness of a spouse's smile.
And it is at times like this that we draw renewed strength from the knowledge that others also have felt great loss. It was in 1864 that Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter of condolence to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a Massachusetts woman who lost several sons in the Union Army.
In his letter, President Lincoln wrote, and I quote, "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom."
What Mr. Lincoln wrote 138 years ago captures my own thoughts toward all of the families and loved ones of those lost last October. The plaque we are today dedicating represents the appreciation of a grateful nation for ten wonderful Americans.
On behalf of the President of the United States, and on my own behalf, it is my personal honor to recognize their sacrifice and to thank their survivors for the love, fidelity to duty and deep patriotism that animated their lives.
May God bless you all, and may God bless our beloved country.