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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release April 4, 1996
                        REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                     AFTER THE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR 
                    SECRETARY OF COMMERCE RON BROWN
                        Outside St. John's Church                                    
                            Washington, D.C.    

12:15 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Ladies and gentlemen, we just had a very moving memorial service not only to grieve, but to celebrate the life of Secretary Brown and the other employees of the national government, our military people and the business leaders who were on that mission. We thanked God for their lives, we prayed for their families, and we came together in our grief and rededication. And we pointed out that it was 28 years ago on this day that Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis, working for what he believed in.

Today I spoke with the parents of one of the young women who died who worked for the Department of Commerce, who said they had spent their careers as school teachers, raising their daughter to believe that she could make a difference and that she ought to try. And they were very proud that she died doing what she believed in, trying to aid the peace in Bosnia.

And so that is how we are trying to think about this very difficult thing on this beautiful spring day in Easter Week.

Thank you very much.

END 12:16 P.M. EST