Gen. Colin Powell's son: 'My father made a monumental difference'

Michael Powell paid tribute to his father, Gen. Colin Powell, at the former secretary of state’s funeral on Friday by saying, "My father made a monumental difference. He lived. He lived well." The younger Powell added, "Colin Powell was a great lion with a big heart. We will miss him terribly."

Video Transcript

MICHAEL POWELL: We walk through this life holding hands with the ones we love. They guide us, they pull us out of harm's way, they touch and caress us with love and kindness. One of my most powerful memories comes from holding my dad's hand. I was hurt very badly and lying in an ICU bed following a bad accident. It was the middle of the night, yet my father was by my side after a long day of work.

I was squirming in pain and anguish. Without a word, he just took my hand and squeezed it with a father's love. It instantly relaxed and put me at peace. The last night of his life, I walked in to see him. Now, he was the one lying in ICU bed. He could not see or speak to me. So I took his hand just as he had taken mine decades before. I knew everything was not going to be OK.

I wanted him to be at peace. But again, I felt my father's love in that hand. That hand that took my mother's hand in matrimony, that hand that held me as a baby, that hand that signed report cards, tossed baseballs, and fixed old cars, that hand that signed treaties and war orders, saluted service members, and gestured joyfully whilst telling a story.

That hand is still now, but it left a deep imprint on the lives of family and dear friends, soldiers and sailors, presidents and prime ministers, and a generation of aspiring young people. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that the purpose of life is not to be happy, it is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. My father made a monumental difference. He lived. He lived well.

I've heard it asked, are we still making his kind? I believe the answer to that question is up to us. To honor his legacy, I hope we do more than consign him to the history books. I hope we recommit ourselves to being a nation where we are still making his kind. For as he said in his autobiography, his journey was an American journey. Colin Powell was a great lion with a big heart. We will miss him terribly.