[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19819-19820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1400

  That is why I have never actually flown one. But John Yates would 
climb into the cockpit of this small, single-engine aircraft--which are 
still in use today. Many of them are used in the bush areas of Alaska 
because of how lightweight they are, and small, and compact. They don't 
take a whole lot of runway.
  But he would climb into this small, aluminum airplane and would fly 
just above the treetops to draw enemy fire. He actually flew a plane to 
be shot at. This wasn't like close air support airplanes we have today 
that have titanium shells that can absorb a lot of impact. No, this was 
just a small plane with an aluminum skin around the fuselage.
  But his purpose was to fly close to the enemy to try to spot the 
enemy and cause the enemy to fire at him so our artillery and our other 
aircraft would actually know where the enemy forces were and where 
their heavy artillery was. That is an incredible job for someone to do, 
especially a young person, maybe in his twenties, as he was serving in 
World War II.
  After 60 years from the time that he flew those Piper Cub aircraft, I 
had the opportunity to serve with John Yates in the Georgia 
Legislature. There is one thing I appreciated about John, as we find 
from a lot of veterans, and as a veteran myself--I know that same 
feeling--once you serve, you always have this desire to serve in 
another capacity.
  In 1989, John was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. I 
came several years later to serve with him. But John continued his 
fight for his fellow servicemen and for his country in the Georgia 
Legislature, as he was chairman of the House Defense and Veterans' 
Affairs Committee and was always on the front lines of fighting for 
veterans' care, to ensure that the government provided to veterans the 
care that they needed and the services that they deserved.
  He understood the meaning of patriotism. He lived as a patriot. 
Everything he did portrayed the idea of patriotism. One thing I liked 
about John Yates is one of his favorite quotes was from Winston 
Churchill. That quote was: ``Never give up. Never give up. Never give 
up.''
  That is something that we can take hold of ourselves today, 
especially as Americans. We have a history of never giving up, a 
fortitude of not just taking defeat and running away, but taking defeat 
and turning it into a victory.
  John Yates never quit serving. All he looked for was the ability to 
serve in the next mission that he was called for. On December 11 of 
this year, John Yates went on to his next mission in Heaven.
  We are going to miss John Yates. The State of Georgia is going to 
miss John Yates. But I stand here today, Mr. Speaker, to honor one of 
those true American patriots who stood in the face of battle and faced 
the enemy face-to-face; and when he came home, he followed that desire 
to continue to serve, and he served until he passed away just a few 
days ago.


           Honoring Heroes of Congressional Baseball Shooting

  Mr. LOUDERMILK. Mr. Speaker, I would like to just take a moment and 
recognize another anniversary. Six months ago today, on a baseball 
field just a few miles from here, I and several of our colleagues found 
ourselves in a combat zone of our own.
  It doesn't seem like it has been 6 whole months since a crazed gunman 
walked onto our field and started shooting at us. But the reason I want 
to bring that up today is because every person on that field that day 
who was shot at is still in this House today and still walking around 
in Washington, D.C.
  By the grace of God, we were protected during that time, and I just 
want to thank everyone for their prayers and support, and those who 
responded to that event and came out and saved the lives of many of us.
  Steve Scalise, the whip whom we serve with here; Matt Mika, one of 
our staff members; Zack Barth, a congressional staffer; and Capitol 
Police Special Agent Crystal Griner all were wounded during that 
battle, and it really was a battle.
  But I also want to highlight some of those who did not leave the 
field that day, who stayed and helped others; people like my good 
friend from Mississippi, Congressman Trent Kelly, an Army Reservist, 
who, when he identified the shooter, did not panic, but he alerted 
others, and then eventually led many to safety behind a concrete 
building.
  Representative Mo Brooks stayed and helped apply a tourniquet to Zack 
Barth who had been shot in the calf.
  Representative Brad Wenstrup, who is also a colonel in the Army 
Reserves, a combat doctor, was out on the edge of the field and could 
have easily run away, but he stayed and was one of the first to be able 
to run out and give aid to Steve Scalise out on the field as he lay 
near second base.
  Retired Lieutenant General Representative Jack Bergman was able to 
actually lead several of our players and staff members to safety inside 
of the dugout away from the gunfire.
  Brian Kelly, a civilian staff member on the team, stayed with me 
throughout the gunfire as we tried to lend aid to Matt Mika who was 
lying next to the Capitol Police SUV throughout the entire incident.
  Finally, my thanks go out to Special Agent David Bailey, who I 
personally watched on numerous occasions put his own life in danger as 
he would move

[[Page 19820]]

out into the line of fire to draw fire away from myself and Brian 
Kelly. He saw that, whenever the shooter was not shooting at Capitol 
Police, they were shooting at us so he would purposely move himself in 
the line of fire, and again, miraculously protected us, even as one of 
the rounds hit his cellphone which deflected away from his body.
  Lastly, I want to thank the Alexandria Police Department, who came to 
our aid and eventually took down the shooter.
  Moments like this are surreal to me and to others, and it is 
important that we go back and reflect and remember these moments. 
Because the only way that we can correct mistakes from our past, is if 
we go back and we relive them and we look at what caused this.
  As we stand here today, one of the things that I see that we need in 
America that we have lost is the idea of civility. We have heard here 
on the floor today differing opinions regarding policy; ideas of what 
is good for this country, what is right for this country. That is part 
of the strength of this country. That is the freedom that we have, 
which is to bring different ideas.
  The whole idea of this Chamber is to bring different ideas and 
different policy opinions to the floor and debate them, and those ideas 
and opinions that have the support of a majority of the Members are 
moved forward.
  But at some point in the past, we have transitioned beyond just 
arguing over ideas and we bring rhetoric that is distasteful. We attack 
the person and their families. I just believe that we can do a whole 
lot better in this Nation if we, once again, find the ability to agree 
to disagree and respect the rights, freedom, and the liberty of the 
other person to have their opinion. If we can do that, then we can 
engage in discourse and we will lessen the amount of violence that we 
see that is driven by political rhetoric.
  That would be the message that I would pass off to America on the 
anniversary of the shooting because that is the idea that people like 
John Yates lived their lives for and fought their battles for, was for 
the freedom that we have in this Nation to continue to exist.
  I believe America's greatest days are ahead of us, but we have got a 
little work to do to actually grasp hold of it.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for allowing me to honor the memory of my 
good friend and colleague, John Yates.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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