Political Quotes

“Jim Russell died last Sunday. My life and the lives of a legion of others are diminished as a result. Today the flags in Lakewood, WA, will fly at half mast for retired Adm. James Russell, who died last Sunday at the age of 93. It is difficult to compress a panegyric for Admiral Russell into a few short minutes, but he was, after all, a modest man who sought out neither praise nor glory. He eschewed grandiloquence, and so shall I. A simple retelling of his remarkable life will suffice. James Russell was born in Tacoma, WA. When he was 15 he tried to join the Navy, but was turned away. Undeterred, he joined the Merchant Marine. His official naval career began in 1922 when he entered the U.S. Naval Academy. He went to the California Institute of Technology to get a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. In 1939 he worked on the design of the Essex-class aircraft carriers. Seventeen of the Essex-class were built, and none were sunk during World War II. He not only helped design, but also helped serve on the carriers, where he was, as the Tacoma News Tribune points out, the first naval aviator to take off from and land on the first six U.S. aircraft carriers. In the war Admiral Russell served as a lieutenant commander of a patrol squadron in the Aleutians. He defended Dutch Harbor, and America against a Japanese fighter attack.”