Sam Farr: “I live in Carmel, California, and when the phone rang and I heard that Jack Murtha had died, I couldn't believe it. I…”

“I live in Carmel, California, and when the phone rang and I heard that Jack Murtha had died, I couldn't believe it. I broke into tears. I just couldn't believe it. It was like when I heard my father had died. And what I did at that moment was I did the same thing when my dad died. I sat down and I wrote a letter to Jack Murtha. Here it is: ``Dear Jack, I can't believe you're gone. Gone from the Pennsylvania Corner, from your chair where we would all come to see you. Each checking in during floor sessions on your opinion on military issues and Pennsylvania politics. And we talked about our issues, about base closure progress, about programs that were working and programs that had problems. Always thanking you for your help. Thanking you for your earmarks. I'll never forget what you did with your earmark for breast cancer research, for child care centers at military bases, for military education. More than anything else, you were concerned about the welfare of our troops and especially their families. ``Remember when you got me to go to Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda Naval Hospital to visit the war wounded and how we worked to get golf carts for disabled soldiers by insisting that each of the 177 golf courses operated by the services have carts for the disabled?”