Nick Rahall: “Thank you, Mr. Latham. I appreciate your yielding, and do want to join today in paying tribute to the illustrious career…”

“Thank you, Mr. Latham. I appreciate your yielding, and do want to join today in paying tribute to the illustrious career of a colleague, a very good friend, the gentleman--and I mean gentleman in every sense of the word--the gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Leonard Boswell. As the ranking member on the Surface Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on which Mr. Boswell has served, I can tell you that his expertise in so many issues that we've already heard discussed today have been critical to us in passing much-needed legislation. Much has been said already, but not enough can be said to say thank you to Leonard Boswell for his serving our country as he has in the U.S. Army, to have risen, like he did, from private to lieutenant colonel. To have run as many missions as he did as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and to have won two Distinguished Flying Crosses is something that this Nation can never say thank you enough for what Leonard Boswell has done, even before he came to the illustrious Halls of the U.S. Congress. In the real world, Leonard Boswell has truly combined a midwestern farmer's common sense with practical, everyday living. And it has been that experience that has proven so invaluable to us on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, his work to draft critical legislation. As a pilot, Leonard Boswell knows very well the tremendous issues facing our aviation community, and he served on that Subcommittee on Aviation for each of his 16 years in this body.…”