Thomas Daschle: “This is a sad day for the Capitol Hill family. Four years ago today, two very good men--two members of our Capitol Hill…”

“This is a sad day for the Capitol Hill family. Four years ago today, two very good men--two members of our Capitol Hill family, Officer J.J. Chestnut and Detective John Gibson--were killed defending this Capitol Building. As Senator Lott has noted, a few moments ago we paused for a moment of silence to pay tribute to these fallen heroes for their selfless service and their enormous sacrifice. Just before that moment of silence, there was a ceremony at the memorial door entrance to this building. Under the bronze plaque that bears the names and likenesses of Officer Chestnut and Detective Gibson, we laid roses in their honor. Yesterday at that same spot someone left another tribute: a small basket of red, white, and blue flowers. Attached to the basket was a card. Inside the card was a handwritten note that read: We will never forget. You were my friends. God bless. It was signed by a member of the Capitol Police Force. Also yesterday John Gibson's beloved Boston Red Sox trounced the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 22 to 4--in the first game of a double hitter, no less. So I know John Gibson is smiling up in heaven today. And even though the gardening he loved is struggling in this heat and drought, I am sure J.J. Chestnut is right there with him--smiling, too. For those of us down here who knew them, it is a little harder to smile today. The great poet Emily Dickinson wrote, after someone you loved dies, you feel ``the presence of their absence everywhere.''”