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Rep. John Murtha dead at 77.
Normally, I express my sorrow at any elected official’s death, loss, or illness. I find my reaction to Murtha as a person so negative, that I feel I would be paying lip service by saying anything.
So, Rep. John Murtha, dead at 77.
Harrisburg, Pa. (AP) – Rep. John Murtha, the tall, gruff-mannered former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill and later an outspoken and influential critic of the Iraq War, died Monday. He was 77.
The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., spokesman Matthew Mazonkey said.
In 1974 Murtha, then an officer in the Marine Reserves, became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress.