[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING SERGEANT CHRISTOPHER ENEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 27, 2009

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of 
Sergeant Christopher Eney, a brave and dedicated U.S. Capitol Police 
Officer who was killed on the job 25 years ago this August.
  Sergeant Eney, who was 37 years old, was a devoted husband and 
father. He was deeply committed to his work with the Capitol Police, to 
which he gave 12 years of faithful service. His fellow officers 
remember him as ``a model officer, a leader, not a follower.'' At his 
memorial service, they recalled his quiet optimism, how Sergeant Eney 
could conjure a smile during his shifts in the House gallery at four in 
the morning. Sergeant Eney, they remembered, was always proud to serve.
  In a training exercise in 1984, a fellow officer accidently 
discharged his weapon, and Sergeant Eney was mortally wounded. He was 
the first Capitol Police Officer to die in the line of the duty.
  Sergeant Eney's wife Vivian spoke at a ceremony for fallen officers 
some years later. ``As far as I'm concerned,'' she said, ``death 
doesn't make them a hero. What makes them a hero is the fact that 
they're walking out of the Academy, they're putting on a gun, they're 
wearing the badge. And in this day and age that takes a lot of 
courage.''
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to recognize the service and sacrifice of 
Christopher Eney and all of America's fallen heroes, and I ask my 
colleagues to join me in doing so.

                          ____________________