[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 14710]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING OFFICER STEPHEN T. JOHNS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, yesterday, this city and our country 
experienced a terrible and horrifying tragedy. A man by the name of 
Stephen Johns went to work every day for the last 6 years at one of our 
Nation's most moving museums--a living memorial to one of our world's 
most horrific atrocities--the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  While standing guard yesterday at that U.S. Holocaust Memorial 
Museum, Mr. Stephen Johns was killed while protecting thousands of 
others who were inside the building from the same fate that he 
suffered. His death has shocked, upset, and angered the Senate, our 
Nation, and all who detest such senseless bloodshed.
  Mr. Johns was murdered in a place built to memorialize humanity's 
most unspeakable murders. He was a victim of violence and hatred in a 
place dedicated to teaching us the evils of violence and hatred. He was 
a target of intolerance in a place created for reflection on the 
consequences of intolerance. His death reminds us that we have much 
more work to do.
  Stephen Johns was just 39 years old. He had a wife and a son. He grew 
up in Temple Hills, MD, just a few miles south and east of where I 
stand today. He still lived in that community. Mr. Johns started 
working at the Holocaust Museum after spending a year in New Orleans in 
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
  Those who knew Mr. Johns called him ``Big John'' and ``a gentle 
giant.'' Those who knew him describe him as caring, polite, friendly, 
and helpful. Even those who didn't know him are deeply saddened by his 
loss and inspired by his heroism.
  In the spirit of the museum where every day he so bravely reported 
for duty, it is our duty to keep alive his memory. Today, the Holocaust 
Museum is closed. Its flags fly at half staff. When it opens tomorrow, 
it will continue to serve as one of our Nation's most poignant 
reminders of the inexcusable racism, hatred, violence, and cruelty that 
we must never stop trying to erase from our world. When it opens 
tomorrow, and every day thereafter, Stephen Johns' courage and courtesy 
will be missed.

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