President Bush Meets with Pennsylvania Coal Miners
Remarks by the President to Coal Miners and Their Families and Community
Green Tree Fire Department
Green Tree, Pennsylvania
10:57 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Governor, thanks for your
introduction. Thanks for your calm in the midst of crisis. I want to
thank you and all the good folks here in the state of Pennsylvania who
rallied to save the lives and help save the lives of nine valuable
citizens.
Today we're here to celebrate life, the value of life, and as
importantly, the spirit of America. I asked to come by to meet our
nine citizens and their families because I believe that what took place
here in Pennsylvania really represents the best of our country, what I
call the spirit of America, the great strength of our nation.
So I want to thank you all for coming, for giving me chance to --
and giving me a chance to come and share with you the optimism and joy
of an historic moment.
First I do -- I want to thank Dan Walsh of the Greentree Volunteer
Fire Company for opening up this beautiful house and inviting all these
folks here. Dan, I want you to know I'm a proud supporter of the
Crawford Volunteer Fire Department. I understand how important
firefighters are, paid or volunteer. And so on behalf of a grateful
nation, I want to thank all the folks who work here at the Greentree
and all those first responders who are here with us today. Thank you
for being here. (Applause.)
I want to thank Elaine Chao of my Cabinet, and Dave Lauriski who is
the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administrator, for
being here. They tell me, Dave, you did a fabulous job. And on behalf
of our nation, that's what we expect you to do. (Laughter.) Thanks
for your good work. (Applause.)
I appreciate members of the United States Senate, Senator Specter
and Congressman Hart and Congressman Chabot for coming. I appreciate
the Attorney General being here. I appreciate State Senator Earll
being here.
I want to thank some special citizens who have come today. They're
what we call Freedom Corps greeters. They came out to the airport to
say hello to me. They represent a program called Jumpstart. These are
AmeriCorps workers. They're also college students -- well, at least
five of the six are college students. One is a graduate of Penn State;
the other go to the University of Pittsburgh.
The reason I'm -- asked them to join us here is because I want you
to know, America can be saved one person at a time. You see, this
great society of ours can be changed one heart, one soul, one
conscience at a time. And as we're here to celebrate the victory of
life, we've also got to understand there are some lives who are
troubled, some lives who are despondent, some people wonder whether not
America is meant for them -- they live in pockets of hopelessness and
despair. And these six heroic students, people who have said, listen,
serving something greater than myself in life is an important part of
being a citizen, have been a part of what's called Jumpstart.
They're tutors to young kids, to make sure the kids have a chance
to learn to read and write and add and subtract; have a chance to be a
part of this great American experience. And so I want to thank these
soldiers in the armies of compassion for setting a great example for
their fellow college students and for some of us old folks, as well.
Thank you all for coming. Appreciate you being here. (Applause.)
As I said, we're here to celebrate the spirit of America, and it's
represented by a lot of folks here, a lot of people involved with what
took place here in Pennsylvania and Somerset. First, the spirit is
best represented by the first responders, the people who were at the
site. You know, people who heard the call that one of my neighbors is
in trouble -- a fellow American is in need. We've got nine people
trapped below the earth who might lose their life, and your fellow
Americans came to your rescue. They came to work hour after hour, many
of them volunteers. None asked, where am I going to get my next
paycheck from. All asked, what can I do? What can I do as an American
to help a neighbor in need.
And so to the first responders here, I want to thank you for your
spirit. For those who volunteered hour after hour to save a fellow
citizens -- somebody you didn't even know, but were willing to
sacrifice on behalf of that citizen, thank you from grateful nation.
Thanks for the example you set. Thanks for showing our fellow citizens
that by serving something greater than yourself is an important part of
being an American.
I truly believe the effort put in will serve as an example for
others in a time of crisis. The spirit of America, the best of America
was represented by those who spent long hours worrying about the lives
of their fellow citizens.
The best of America was also represented in the technology and
know-how of our mine safety folks -- those who, on a moments notice,
used their skill to devise a way to save life. Took a look at the
situation, reacted to the environment, predicted what might happen
miles below the earth, and responded. And then rallied others. They
set up a plan and a strategy. They're -- our folks are world-renown
for mine rescue, and the nation saw why -- and there are nine lives
here to testify that we're some of the best at rescuing our fellow
citizens. The best of America really is the use of our technology and
know-how to save lives, and to help others in need.
The spirit of America can best be seen with the families who are
here. A strong America is America based upon strong families. A
strong future for our country depends upon the strength of our family
-- husband loving wife and wife loving husband, husband and wife
dedicating themselves to their children. The spirit of America was
represented as family members, wives and sons and daughters and moms
and dads prayed for the safety of their loved one. They spent hours
worrying about the lives of somebody they called, loved one. And out
of this near tragedy comes the living example of the importance of
family.
It was my honor to meet the family members here today. I
appreciate and I know your dads and your husbands appreciate much more
than me the fact that you -- the energy you spent on seeing that they
came out of that hole alive was an important part of rallying the --
rallying the country.
And that's another part of the spirit of America I want to herald,
and that is the prayers that were said by thousands of your citizens --
I mean, people from all walks of life. They didn't say, I'm a
Republican, therefore, I get to pray; or I'm a Democrat, I pray. I
don't care about either of them, I pray. Everybody prayed. A lot of
people -- if I say everybody, I don't know if everybody prayed. I can
tell you, a lot prayed. A lot prayed for your safety, a lot prayed for
your families. A lot pled to an almighty God that you were rescued.
And thank God the prayers were answered. (Applause.)
But most of all, the spirit of America was represented by the
courage of the nine -- nine folks trapped below the earth. They had
one sandwich and two bottles of water. These are people that had --
had found an unshakable faith, not only in their fellow citizens and
their families would be pulling for them, but faith in God. These are
men who, as Harry Mayhugh put it, "I just didn't see how we were going
to get out." That's what he said, "I don't see how we're going to get
out." But he said, we're going to -- we've got to pull together to get
out.
In other words, they understood that they needed to rely upon each
other, rely upon the strength of each. They huddled to keep warm, they
said prayers to keep their spirits up. They understood they needed to
tie together to fight the underground current. It was their
determination to stick together and to comfort each other that really
defines kind of a new spirit that's prevalent in our country, that when
one of us suffer, all of us suffers; that in order to succeed, we've
got to be united; that by working together, we can achieve big
objectives and big goals.
Here's a living example of people working together to save nine
precious lives, to make sure that nine families were reunited. And by
the way, it's that spirit that's help us --going to prevail in the big
challenges we face around the world, the challenge of making sure that
we hunt down every terrorist and bring them to justice, because we love
freedom. (Applause.)
It is the determined spirit of America, and our optimism, and our
ability to solve problems which will help us deal with the economic
downturn. It is -- the great spirit of America will help us eradicate
pockets of despair and poverty.
I love to tell the world, and our country, that out of the evil
done to America will come incredible good. And part of that good is a
culture that says, each of us are responsible for the decisions we make
in life. If you're a mom or a dad, you're responsible for loving your
children with all your heart and all your soul. But part of the era of
responsibility also is, you're responsible for helping a neighbor in
need. You're responsible for loving somebody like you'd like to be
loved yourself. You're responsible for the health of the community in
which you live. No, the spirit of America is alive and strong, as we
found out loud and clear in Somerset, Pennsylvania.
It's an honor to be here with you today. I want to thank you for
the example you set. May God bless you, may God bless your families,
and may God continue to bless America. Thank you very much.