By Emelie Rutherford
Military and political leaders remembered Pentagon budget writer John Murtha at his funeral yesterday as a dedicated Marine who focused on troops’ needs in Congress.
Murtha, a 19-term congressman and chairman of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D), died Feb. 8 at the age of 77 from complications following gallbladder surgery.
The Johnstown, Pa., church service was packed with officials including former president Bill Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Adviser Jim Jones, and Lockheed Martin [LMT] President and CEO Robert Stevens. Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway joined most of his fellow Joint Chiefs and most service secretaries at the Westmont Presbyterian Church. He remembered Murtha as a “man of action” who showed “enthusiasm, aggressiveness, and attention to detail.”
Eulogizing Murtha, Conway recalled the first meeting the two of them had on Capitol Hill about the Marine Corps budget, in 2006.
“At one point he leaned close to me and said, ‘Commandant, you can’t have everything, but tell me the two or three things that you have to have, and I’ll get it for you,'” Conway said. “I thought at the time that it was a Marine thing, and that it was good to have a fellow leatherneck in such an important position.
“I have since come to realize that he had almost identical conversations with all the service chiefs,” Conway added, spurring laughter from the solemn crowd.
Indeed, Murtha often told reporters he supported continuing troubled Marine Corps programs, such as General Dynamics‘ [GD] Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, because of Conway’s wishes.
Murtha dropped out of college to join the Marines Corps toward the end of the Korean War. A decorated Vietnam War veteran, he retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel in 1990, following 37 years of service.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) described how Murtha held court in a corner of the House floor, from where members would go “to get Jack’s blessing” on spending matters.
During her eulogy of her close ally, Pelosi said Murtha’s character was reflected in how he communicated with troops.
“He always answered their needs by responding to their call for body armor, up-armored vehicles or reliable radios,” she said.
In Murtha’s opposition to the Iraq war, Pelosi added, “he taught us all to make a distinction between the war and the warrior.”
Murtha was buried yesterday at the Grandview Cemetery in Johnstown, which his family chose for his final resting place over Arlington National Cemetery.
His nationally televised funeral service was attended by many members of Congress and the Obama administration. Overflow sites were set up at four locations around Johnstown, which was beset with a snow squall yesterday.
A memorial service is expected to be held in the Washington, D.C., area in the coming weeks.
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the HAC-D vice chairman and a close Boeing [BA] ally, is expected to succeed Murtha as chairman. Dicks, a longtime subcommittee member, is not expected to diverge much from Murtha.
Some observers, though, expect Dicks to be less aggressive than Murtha in doling out earmarks for specific spending items. And Dicks undoubtedly will continue to do all he can to help Boeing in its bid for contracts for weapon systems including the Air Force aerial-refueling tanker; while Murtha tried unsuccessfully to split the tanker contract between the two competitors, Dicks opposed the idea.