(DOVER AFB, Delaware—AP) As 33 flag-draped caskets were solemnly brought home to America on Saturday, a sorrowful President Clinton said that Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 32 other victims of a plane crash showed the best of America. "They are a stern rebuke to the cynicism that is all too familiar today."
The caskets were delivered to grieving, still-shocked families as the Air Force Band played hymns and "My Country ’Tis of Thee." Clinton, along with his wife and Vice President Al Gore, consoled each family in private, one-on-one. The emotion of the moment clearly showed in the president’s face.
'Loved ones proud of what they were doing'
"Today we come to a place that has seen too many sad homecomings, because this is where we in America bring home our own, those who have given their lives in the service of their country," Clinton told the crowd.His voice often near breaking, the president talked about his visits with the families. "Their loved ones were proud of what they were doing," he said. "They believed in what they were doing. They believed in their country and they believed they could make a difference."
Each of the victims of the airplane crash on a Croatian hillside was represented here by relatives wearing red-white-and-blue ribbons. The president said the crash victims "carried with them America’s spirit—what our great martyr, Abraham Lincoln, called the last best hope of earth."
The Clintons and Gore led a large delegation of government officials to be here as the 33 aluminum coffins were brought from a transport plane into hearses beside an open hangar by eight uniformed pall bearers each. Four howitzers on the tarmac fired a 19-gun salute.
Brig. Gen. William Dendinger, deputy chief of chaplains for the Air Force, offered a prayer. "Help us always to remember these public servants, ever mindful of their willingness to share their talents and their wisdom," he said. The president called his mission here "a sad journey."
President Deeply Shaken
His friendship with Brown, who was a major player in his 1992 election, was deep and the president was visibly grieving as he ended a week of sadness. A day earlier, he made a return visit to Oklahoma City to be with the families of the 168 victims of last year’s bombing of the federal building there.Clinton said that "at the first of this interminable week," Brown met with him, Gore and two other people. "He was bubbling with enthusiasm about this mission," the president recalled, quoting Brown: "These people are going on this mission because they want to use the power of the American economy to save peace in the Balkans."
"Sometimes it takes a terrible tragedy to illustrate a basic truth," he said in his radio speech Saturday. "In a democracy, government is not them versus us; we are all ‘us’, we are all in it together."
At Dover, each family was assigned a private room in a training building and the president, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore went from room to room, spending a few minutes with each. Brown’s widow, Alma, joined them in meeting with the families of Commerce Department officials.
While the president was comforting the families, the airplane carrying 33 coffins pulled up in front of the hangar and later, one-by-one, the aluminum boxes were unloaded into as many black hearses. The White House said that each of the 33 families was represented here.
Funeral Date Not Yet Set
Brown’s funeral date has not been set. The president will deliver the eulogy at the service at Washington National Cathedral; the burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery with military honors, reflecting Brown’s four years of Army service. His body will lie in repose for a day at the Department of Commerce to enable department workers and the public to say their goodbyes.The president and Gore, who came in separate planes Saturday, scheduled two hours to meet privately with the families before the arrival of the coffins.
The president walked off Air Force One holding the hand of Mrs. Brown. They then stepped into a limousine and drove off for the meetings with the families. Not just the leaders of government mourned. Following the president down the steps of his 747 was Henry Oliver, who had served Brown as a driver.
The Americans who died on Wednesday were mostly from Clinton’s generation, but many were younger. They were a mix of civil servants, working at the Commerce Department, military members and what Clinton called "some of our finest business leaders."
In Dubrovnik earlier in the day, after the coffins were loaded aboard the plane that transported them home, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said in a eulogy, "You will remain forever in our memory." His country, he said, was "shaken by pain and sorrow."
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