Political Quotes

“I rise this evening to pay tribute to the brave American men and women who were lost over the skies of Iraq several days ago by friendly fire, and in particular to my West Point classmate, Col. Jerry Thompson, who was killed in that friendly fire incident. Back in July 1967, when the class of 1971 at West Point arrived, we were mostly high school kids, many who had not been away from home for any length of time, but among our midst there was one individual who had already distinguished himself as a splendid soldier; indeed, a hero. Jerry Thompson joined the U.S. Army in 1964. He went through OCS. He went to Vietnam. He commanded an infantry platoon in the First Division, the Big Red One, and won the Silver Star for bravery. He gave that up to start as a plebe at West Point in the summer of 1967. Other people with that type of demonstrated record of courage and skill and achievement might have lorded it over us high school kids, but he did not. He was a classmate in the truest sense of the word.”