‘Just as bravery was required from our Founders who built the Capitol, the bravery of great men is required today to protect and keep it. The names of Chestnut and Gibson will forever be remembered among American patriots’



WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday in honor of the memory of Capitol Police Officer Jacob Joseph Chestnut and Detective John Michael Gibson:



“If you visit the United States Capitol through a certain entrance on the first floor of the East Front, you will see a plaque by the door. The plaque is in honor and remembrance of Capitol Police Officer Jacob Joseph Chestnut and Detective John Michael Gibson, where 10 years ago today they gave their lives in defense of this Capitol.



“Their deaths remind us that, just as bravery was required from our Founders who built the Capitol, the bravery of great men is required today to protect and keep it. The names of Chestnut and Gibson will forever be remembered among American patriots.



“Officer Chestnut, or J.J. to his friends, was 58 and a father of five. An 18-year veteran of the force, he was just months away from retirement. He was also an Air Force veteran of 20 years who had served in Vietnam and Taiwan, where he met his wife.



“J.J. lovingly tended a vegetable garden in the back yard of his house, and neighbors often saw him practicing his golf swing in his front lawn.



“John Gibson also had 18 years of service with the Capitol Police. A friend of his recalls that just a few days before the shooting, John told him he had never had to draw his weapon on the job. 42 years old, he had three children, and was a native of Massachusetts.



“Friends recall John’s ardent love for his Boston sports teams—the Bruins, the Red Sox, and U Mass basketball.



“Officer Chestnut and Detective Gibson were the first Capitol Police officers to die in the line of duty. As we honor them today, we also honor the hundreds of brave men and women of that force who put their lives on the line to protect this house of democracy.



“To the casual tourist, Capitol Police officers may just seem like friendly people who stand guard at the doors. But in truth, they are an elite, highly trained force charged with a critical mission. In moments of crisis, when not just lives but our very system of government is threatened, they stand ready at the front lines.



“We saw again on September 11, 2001, how the Capitol can be a target for terror. And we saw again the bravery of the Capitol Police, who rushed into the building to rescue others when most of us were busy rushing out.



“As my friend the Majority Leader, a former Capitol Police officer himself, knows, police work is both an honorable job and a dangerous one.



“In fact, in the ten years since the loss of Officer Chestnut and Detective Gibson, 24 peace officers in my home State of Kentucky have also been lost in the line of duty. If there is no objection, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that their names be placed in the Record.



“So today the United States Senate remembers J.J. Chestnut and John Gibson. We are grateful for their heroic sacrifice. And we say a prayer for their families, who we embrace as we would our own.”



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Kentucky Peace Officers Killed in the Line of Duty

July 24, 1998 – July 24, 2008



REGINA WOODWARD NICKLES

JOEY TREMAYNE VINCENT

JASON WAYNE CAMMACK

WILLIAM J. COLLINS JR.

BILLY RAY WALLS III

CHARLES BROWN MORGAN JR.

SAMUEL WILSON CATRON

HOWARD CALLIS

RAY B. FRANKLIN

EDDIE MUNDO JR.

DOUGLAS WAYNE BRYANT

ROBERT T. HANSEL

STEVEN LLOYD HUTCHINSON

LARRY DALE COTTINGHAM

PETER ALAN GRIGNON

ROGER DALE LYNCH

ELMER KISER

DAVID GEORGE WHITSON

JONATHAN KYLE LEONARD

RONNIE K. JONES

GARRY RANDY LACY

RANDY WELLS

ANTHONY SEAN PURSIFULL

JOE E. HOWARD SR.