[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11837-11838]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE LIVES OF FIVE AMERICAN HEROES

  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I am here with our senior Senator Lamar 
Alexander to speak on something very tragic that occurred in our State 
and in my hometown.
  I rise to honor the lives of five American heroes--the five American 
heroes we honor today with the lowering of the flags here at the U.S. 
Capitol. Our community is heartbroken, as has been said many times, our 
State is heartbroken, and I believe our Nation is heartbroken that 
these outstanding young men died in the way they did, but we honor 
their lives. We mourn their loss. We think of the greatness they 
embodied: Thomas Sullivan, David Wyatt, Carson Holmquist, Skip Wells, 
and Randall Smith.
  I think as the Nation has learned about these individuals carrying 
out what many would consider to be mundane activities in support of our 
U.S. military, those who protect us, they understand the greatness they 
symbolized, most of them having served in Afghanistan and Iraq and some 
of them younger, beginning their careers, but all having excellent 
backgrounds and exemplifying the very best America has to offer.
  Our Nation mourns, our community mourns, and we have lost five of our 
greatest. Also, hospitalized in Chattanooga today is a young man named 
Dennis Pedigo, whose mother and father both served on the Chattanooga 
Police Department, and he has followed in their footsteps.
  I think people have heard all around our country the tremendous 
heroism that was exemplified by the Chattanooga Police Department, 
which rushed at the assailant and brought him to his end--by the way, 
trained to do so, trained to go at them. This was not a SWAT team, but 
these were patrol squads that were trained to deal with this kind of 
situation and no doubt saved the lives of other people in doing so. So 
we honor them. We honor all of them. We celebrate them. As a community 
we have been harmed, and our community has prayed.
  We had a vigil on Friday night that was extraordinary. Senator 
Alexander was there with our Governor, our mayor, county officials, and 
others. It was an extraordinary time of our community coming together 
around what has happened.
  I do believe that what people all over the country and the world have 
heard about ``Chattanooga strong'' is true, and I think our community 
will be even stronger because of what has happened, and our Nation must 
understand where we are in the world and that these types of activities 
will possibly continue.
  I had a very good conversation on Friday with the Pentagon to talk 
about what they are doing. I know threat activity has been rising for 
some time, and they are looking at what needs to be done to ensure this 
doesn't happen again.
  I had a very good conversation this morning with Senator McCain, who 
I know is leading efforts with House Members to figure out if there is 
a way to add something to the NDAA, a piece of legislation that we can 
deal with very quickly here so we can make sure we have policies to 
protect lives.
  Our community is praying for these individuals. It is my hope that we 
will put policies in place to ensure we appropriately protect these 
individuals.
  In addition to that, there are tangible things we can do. I know that

[[Page 11838]]

when something like this happens, there are certain types of Federal 
benefits. Our offices are working together with outside groups to 
coordinate that.
  Thankfully, our community has come together to make sure these 
families have the financial support they need beyond that. There is an 
effort under way in Chattanooga now--and I hope people around the world 
will participate--to make sure that the financial support that is 
necessary to sustain these families in light of what happened occurs.
  My friend and a great Tennessean--or at least we claim him as that 
because he lives in Chattanooga for part of the year--Peyton Manning, 
has lent his name to this effort. My sense is that we will see a 
generous outpouring to ensure that, at a base level, some of the 
financial needs of these families, if not all, will be dealt with in an 
appropriate way.
  I will close by saying this. Our community has been shocked, as has 
the world. We have lost five outstanding people, and it has shaken 
their families.
  I had the opportunity to meet briefly with the family of the fallen 
sailor, the last person who passed. He was riddled with bullets, and 
the Erlanger trauma squad worked with him for hours and hours and hours 
trying to save his life. Finally, after a tremendous fight, he lost his 
life--again, in the line of duty.
  The needs of these families are great. While our community is 
praying, they will try to meet their needs in other ways.
  How do we respond to this? Lamar and I have both mentioned what comes 
out of this, and the fact is that I feel that our community is like 
none I have witnessed from the standpoint of its compassion to others. 
My sense is that the way our community is going to respond to this is 
much like what I would refer to in Genesis 12, where God said to the 
Jewish people that they were blessed to be a blessing. I think most 
people in our community, our State, and our Nation believe we have been 
incredibly blessed, and my sense is that in addition to responding to 
the specific needs that need to be dealt with both here in Washington 
and back home and certainly at the State level, our community is going 
to rise up and ensure that, because we have been blessed, we continue 
to be a blessing to others. That is my hope, and that is what I am 
seeing happen. I have never seen such an outpouring of compassion 
anyplace else in my life.
  I am proud to represent Tennessee. I am proud that my hometown has 
responded in the way that it has, in spite of a deep mourning and grief 
that we have for these outstanding men who lost their lives in the line 
of duty.
  Senator Alexander and I will submit a resolution later today, and my 
sense is that the entire Senate will want to be a part of it.
  With that, I will turn to my distinguished friend, a great colleague, 
and one of the greatest Senators our State has ever had, Lamar 
Alexander.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I thank Senator Corker for his eloquent 
and obviously heartfelt comments. He mentioned the word that we have 
heard most often since last Thursday, when he and I first got word of 
this tragedy, and the word is ``heartbroken.'' We are heartbroken for 
the lives that were lost, heartbroken for the families that remain, and 
heartbroken for the community of Chattanooga.
  We can see the deep emotion that Senator Corker has expressed. As a 
resident and former mayor of Chattanooga, that community is very 
special to him.
  On Friday at 5:30 p.m., in Mount Olivet Baptist Church, there was a 
memorial service that nearly 1,000 people attended. Senator Corker, our 
Governor, the police chief, and others spoke.
  I know most people in the country know about what happened that day. 
Most of them would have liked to have been there to do what they could 
in a time such as this. You never know quite what to say. Sometimes all 
you can do is just be there.
  This is especially hard because these were young men--young men in 
the service of our country, young men whose lives were filled with 
happiness, young men who had the expectation of a long life for 
themselves, young men who were filled with duty and service.
  They were living in a strong community. Faith and the sense of 
helping one another is strong Chattanooga faith. Chattanooga is a place 
of good neighbors. Chattanooga was recently named the best midsize city 
in America. Everything in Chattanooga seemed to be going in the right 
direction, and then this happened. So it is especially heartbreaking in 
the community of Chattanooga.
  On Friday, I thought--while trying to think about what words I could 
add to the words that were being said--about the time in 1985 when 289 
members of the 101st Airborne Division lost their lives in a plane 
crash in Newfoundland, and President Reagan came to Fort Campbell to 
meet with the families to talk about it.
  I was Governor then, and I drove up to hear what he had to say. He 
spoke of those men and women--as these five were--as peacekeepers. They 
were there to protect lives, protect the peace, and to act as a force 
for stability and trust for our country.
  President Reagan said of those 289 men and women, which can be 
equally said of these five men, that their work was the perfect 
expression of the best of the Judeo-Christian tradition. They were the 
ones of whom Christ spoke when he said: ``Blessed are the peacemakers 
for they shall be called the children of God.''
  President Reagan said of the 289 who lost their lives 30 years ago 
what could be said of these five this week and what a poet said of 
soldiers in another war:

       They will never grow old; they will always be young. And we 
     know one thing with every bit of our thinking: They are now 
     in the arms of God.

  Chattanoogans said last Friday the words ``Chattanooga strong,'' and 
they were repeated by Senator Corker, the Governor, and most of the 
members of the community. People were standing up and supporting each 
other and the families who had been heartbroken by the loss of their 
loved ones.
  I am enormously impressed with the people of Chattanooga and their 
current leaders: the mayor, the Governor, and their Senator, who is 
also their former mayor. I believe Chattanooga will be strong.
  I think it is important, as we reflect and grieve here in the Senate 
with Chattanooga--not just with the families and the people who knew 
the five who passed--that we not only honor the five, but that we also 
honor the city and its response to this terrible tragedy.
  I pledge to continue to work with Senator Corker to do all that I can 
to help those five families and help create an environment that can 
keep Chattanooga strong.
  I thank the Presiding Officer, and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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