America lost one of its best when Ron Brown and troupe die

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

I'm not sure I can ever fully put into words the emotions of the past week. Who can adequately describe the painful shrieks of a young boy for his dead father or the sight of 33 flag-draped caskets being loaded silently -- one by one -- into shiny black hearses?

Who can make sense of any tragedy?

When I was in Turkey with Chelsea two weeks ago, I was on board an Air Force T43 flying from Ankara to Istanbul, with a stop in Ephesus. It was a perfect day for flying: sunny and clear with breathtaking views of the Aegean Sea and the Turkish landscape below.

The same plane -- and some of the same crew -- was also on duty seven days later, flying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's group from Bosnia to Croatia in a violent rainstorm.

When that T43 crashed into a rugged mountainside near the Adriatic Coast, the President and I lost close friends and colleagues. And all of America lost noble citizens whose lives were devoted to spreading peace and prosperity around the world.

I knew Ron Brown because he was a friend and also a member of my husband's Cabinet -- the best Secretary of Commerce our nation has ever had.

He had a laser-like intelligence and an infectious smile that lit up every room he entered. To Ron, no hurdle was insurmountable, whether it was growing up in Harlem or serving as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

When the President asked Ron to promote American economic opportunities worldwide, he embraced that challenge because he understood that expanding trade abroad meant creating jobs at home.

He traveled tirelessly, hunting for new markets for American goods and services. Business leaders who traveled with him not only brought home orders but also a greater understanding that economic competition in today's world involves countries as well as companies.

Ron was excited about the mission to Bosnia. It was not primarily about American trade and jobs but about American ingenuity and how it could help rebuild lives shattered by war. Whenever I think of Ron Brown and the extraordinary life he lived, I will always think of his grace, brilliance and profound humanity.

Adam Darling, only 29, was also aboard the plane. I first met Adam during the presidential campaign in 1992, when his parents hosted a political gathering at their bed and breakfast in Santa Cruz, California. Adam was spunky and optimistic and interested in politics. I encouraged him to work for my husband's campaign. To my delight, he did and stayed on after the election as an assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Commerce.

Adam was filled with a desire to help others. When he moved to Washington, he immediately got involved in the community, helping convert abandoned buildings into livable housing. He was also an active member of our church. At Eater services last Sunday morning, Bill, Chelsea and I shared a pew with Adam's parents and sister. We sang Adam's favorite hymn, This is My Song.

Like Ron Brown and Adam Darling, every one of our countrymen whose life was lost in that horrible plane crash embodied the American ideals of citizenship and service.

There were committed public servants like Assistant Secretary of Commerce Charles Meissner, who left a prestigious position in banking to work in government, and Steve Kaminski, a 20-year veteran at Commerce who had won the department's Gold Medal Award.

There were talented and eager young government staffers like Naomi Warbasse, who was fluent in Czech and German and on the path to a promising career in international affairs. She would have turned 25 this weekend.

There was Duane Christian, the Secretary's Chief of Security and a 10-year employee at the department who also coached baseball in the inner city. There were devoted professionals Gail Dobert, Carol Hamilton, Kathryn Hoffman, Kathy Kellogg and William Morton, whose talent, vision and energy helped make Ron Brown's staff one of the most effective and admired in Washington.

There was Lee Jackson, who worked for the Treasury Department promoting economic development in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and James Lewek, a government intelligence analyst specializing in European economic matters.

There was a highly esteemed correspondent for The New York Times, Nathaniel Nash, whose brave 8-year-old son attended the memorial service at Dover Air Force Base last weekend in his Cub Scout uniform.

And there were six dedicated members of the United States Air Force: Captains Ashley Davis and Timothy Schafer, Staff Sergeants Gerald Aldrich and Robert Farrington Jr. and Technical Sergeants Shelly Kelly and Cheryl Turnage.

Twelve leaders of American businesses also accompanied the Secretary, not simply because they wanted to increase their companies' profits but because they knew that democracy could not fully take hold in Bosnia if the country's economic infrastructure is not repaired.

Each of these business leaders brought expertise and experience sorely needed in Bosnia.

Davis Ford's company had donated glass for a hospital in Sarajevo, and he was going to see it being installed.

Robert Donovan, Frank Meier, John Scoville and Robert Whittaker were interested in promoting power generation projects. Claudio Elia's company was involved in pollution control, and Walter Murphy was an expert on telecommunications. Stuart Tholan and Leonard Pieroni had worked on engineering and reconstruction on Kuwait after the Persian Gulf War. Donald Terner's company specialized in building low-income housing. Paul Cushman was a banking executive who was exploring investment opportunities. And Barry Conrad was a lover of the Balkans who was determined to build hotels and promote tourism in the war-torn region.

Finally, there was Lawry Payne, one of the Commerce Department staffers I had come to know best over the last few years. He had first worked for me organizing several trips, including my visit to the 1994 Olympics in Norway, and he was a close friend of many members of my staff.

Lawry had owned a chain of ice cream stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and worked on Wall Street before joining the administration. He wasn't supposed to be in the Secretary's trip to Bosnia. But he was a bachelor, and given the danger of the mission to the former Yugoslavia, he volunteered to go in place of a colleague who had a wife and children.

These were the lives our country lost in Croatia last week. These were the lives of 33 patriotic men and women who, as the President said in Dover, "Show us the best of America."

"They knew what their country had given them," the President said, "and they gave it back with a force, an energy, an optimism that every one of us can be proud of."

"Even as we grieve for what their lives might have been, let us celebrate what their lives were, for their public achievements and their private victories of love and kindness and devotion are things that no one -- no one -- could do anything but treasure."

May God bless each and every one of them, and the loved ones they have left behind, for through their lives they have blessed us, our country and the ideals we cherish.

-- Creators Syndicate