Скачать или смотреть USA: MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR VICTIMS OF DUBROVNIK CRASH

(7 Apr 1996) English/Nat

The bodies of U-S Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and his associates have been flown back to America for a memorial service attended by President Clinton and his cabinet.

Mourning families, their friends and work mates all gathered at Dover Air Base in Delaware to say their farewells.

Ron Brown and 34 others were in a Boeing 737 which crashed on its approach to Dubrovnik airport in Croatia killing all on board.

President Clinton and grieving families were joined by hundreds of mourners as they gathered at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

They had come to witness the sad home-coming of the American bodies which included Ron Brown the U-S Commerce Secretary.

Brown and the trade group with him were killed when their plane crashed on its approach to Dubrovnik airport in Croatia. No one survived.

The military transport plane landed at the air base with its tragic load.

One by one the caskets were unloaded and placed into a fleet of waiting hearses.

A grim faced President watched with his wife Hillary and Vice President AL Gore.

Flanked by the Clintons' who are close friends, Alma Brown, widow of the late Commerce Secretary, stood with her family visibly distraught.

Ron Brown was a major player in the President's 1991/92 election and primed to play a vital role in the forthcoming elections.

In remembrance of the dead they were honoured with a 19 gun military salute followed by the national anthem.

In an emotional speech Clinton spoke of his pride in the patriots that died in the crash.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"These 33 lives show us the best of America. They are a stern rebuke to the cynicism that is all too familiar today. For as family, after family, after family told the Vice President and Hillary and me today, their loved ones were proud of what they were doing. They believed in what they were doing. They believed in this country. They believed we could make a difference. Whether soldiers, or civil servants or committed citizens, they were patriots. In their memory and in their honour, let us rededicate our lives to our country and our fellow citizens. In their memory and in their honour let us resolve to continue their mission of peace and healing and progress. We must not let their mission fail. And we will not let their mission fail."
SUPER CAPTION: Bill Clinton, U-S President

Grieving families wore red, white and blue ribbons which identified them from the rest of the crowd.

The President has personally spent time with each individual family who lost a relation in the crash.

Brown's body will be taken to Washington to lie in state at the Commerce Department.

This will be followed by a celebration of his life and his funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

The Commerce Secretary will finally be buried at Arlington National Cemetary.

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