On the recordJuly 27, 2011
I rise today to pay honor to a life cut tragically short, to a young man whose service to this country went beyond the call of duty. West Point Cadet Jacob Bower, from my great State of West Virginia, and my hometown of Fairmont, died at the age of 18 last week and will be laid to rest Friday at a family cemetery with full military rights. Cadet Bower was the sort of young man who would make any--any--parent proud. He was a three-sport athlete at East Fairmont High School, where he graduated in 2011. He was in the National Honor Society and was valedictorian of his graduating class. He was a role model and led his peers by example. Cadet Bower had something that set him apart: He was a young man who felt the spark to attend West Point. I learned from his mother Ginger that as a young man--or a boy, really--he was very interested in history. He studied the paths that have formed our greatest leaders-- the men and women whose names are in the history books. He learned the best of the best have attended our military academies, and he told his mother that is what he wanted to do. I think he wanted to be in the history books. He wanted to be a part of that. He wanted to give something back. He told his mother: Mom, I have had everything given to me. It is time for me to give back now. Cadet Bower was 18 when he died during a land navigation exercise Thursday of what may be a heat-related cause, though we are not sure yet and it is too early to tell.…
