Hoyer Pays Tribute to Fallen Firefighters on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) delivered brief remarks at the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's (NFFF) annual Congressional Flag Presentation Ceremony to pay tribute to our nation's fallen firefighters. Congressman Hoyer, a co-chair of the Congressional Fire Caucus, joined with other members of the Caucus in presenting 87 American flags flown over the U.S. Capitol to the NFFF. These flags will be given to surviving relatives at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service on Sunday, October 4, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
"When Pope Francis made his historic visit to America last week, he went to Ground Zero in New York to pray and to pay tribute to the first responders who gave their lives on September 11, 2001.
"He met with families of the fallen, including the many firefighters who perished on that day.
"Pope Francis said: ‘Meeting them made me see once again how acts of destruction are never impersonal, abstract, or merely material. They always have a face, a concrete story, a name. In those family members, we see the face of pain, a pain which still touches us and cries out to heaven. At the same time, those family members showed me the other face of this attack, the other face of their grief: the power of love and remembrance. A remembrance that does not leave us empty and withdrawn. The names of so many loved ones are written around the towers' footprints. We can see them, we can touch them, and we can never forget them.'
"I would extend the Pope's words beyond Ground Zero to every community across this nation that has lost loved ones in the line of duty – brave men and women whose names, whose heroic deeds, and whose courage in the face of adversity we recall with pride and with grief.
"The flags we present today will honor them, but they cannot bring these heroes back to us.
"But we can keep them in our hearts and minds always by caring for the families they left behind and by celebrating the example they left for us of patriotism and sacrifice.
"And as we add the names of these 87 fallen heroes, including James Bethea from Baltimore City and Robert Fogle from Baltimore County, we inscribe them not only on our monuments but in our national memory forever.
"Serving as co-chair of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus has been one of the privileges of a lifetime, one that has enabled me to meet face to face with many who lost loved ones and who have shared with me stories of their fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.
"Let us continue to tell their stories and honor their memories – not only by honoring the fallen and supporting their families but by helping to keep firefighters safe in the line of duty.
"I look forward to joining all of you in Emmitsburg as we pay tribute to the fallen of 2014 and recommit ourselves to the work of supporting the men and women of our nation's fire service."