Brian Jones: “I won't take the entire hour, but this is a 10-year journey that I have been on since I was notified by the wife of one…”

“I won't take the entire hour, but this is a 10-year journey that I have been on since I was notified by the wife of one of the pilots, Connie Gruber, who lives in my district, that the very tragic plane crash on April 8, 2000, when 19 marines were killed in a V 22 Osprey, that her husband, Major Brooks Gruber and Colonel John Brow, pilots, were being blamed for the accident. Nineteen marines that night were killed. And again, 10 years ago I was contacted by Mrs. Gruber, who lives in Jacksonville, North Carolina, which is the home of Camp Lejeune Marine Base. Mr. Speaker, I have, for the House, a photograph of the V 22 Osprey that many people might have forgotten. In the year 2000, it was a plane going through a lot of trouble, meaning from the standpoint of testing, standpoint of records being changed, and the standpoint that the Secretary of Defense at the time, Dick Cheney, wanted to scrap the program. But the Marine Corps was saying that they had to have the MV 22. And again, Mr. Speaker, for you to know, this is the plane that goes from a helicopter mode to an airplane mode, that the nacelles will go from this way to a plane mode. I have this beside me so that people can see the V 22. The pilot was Colonel John Brow. He's pictured immediately on my left, and the copilot to the poster's left was Major Brooks Gruber. Connie Gruber wrote me a letter. It's a full page, Mr.…”