John Spratt: “we all know why we are here and for whom the bells toll. When Jake Chestnut and John Gibson died, they died for all of…”

“we all know why we are here and for whom the bells toll. When Jake Chestnut and John Gibson died, they died for all of us. And we live, we go on, we move freely about this Capitol because they did their duty, they did it without flinching, they did it at the price of their lives. They died for us, but they really died for something more. They died to keep this Capitol a place the people can come to and leave feeling this is their Capitol, the seat of their government. We pay a high price in dollars to keep this the most open Capitol in the world. On Friday we paid far more dearly. We lost the lives of two good men. It was not my privilege to know Mr. Gibson. I did know Mr. Chestnut. I knew the first minute I saw him, indeed sitting outside our conference committee room and noticed his name tag, that he was from South Carolina. He was professional from head to toe. He had a polished bearing about him, polished by 20 years in the Air Force. But beneath that polished bearing was a warm-hearted man. I know his family loved him because all of us who came in contact with him did. To their families we open our hearts. Officer Gibson died young, Officer Chestnut died before enjoying a well-earned retirement. But they raised the bar of duty, they left the country two shining examples of courage, and they helped make this Capitol the land of the free, the Capitol of the land of the free and the home of the brave.”