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Speech [print friendly page] DEA Remembers its Fallen Heroes
On May 16, 2005, DEA held its annual memorial ceremony to honor the 75 heroes who have been killed in the fight against drugs. This year, DEA added the names of three brave men who died in the line of duty: Wisconsin Narcotics Bureau Special Agent Jay Balchunas, Special Agent Terry Loftus, and Pilot Instructor Larry Steilen. The following are remarks delivered by DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy at the memorial service: Good morning. General Gonzales, it means so much to DEA to have you with us today. I know that General Gonzales is a very humble leader, but I did not know even with as much time I’ve had the blessing to spend with him, that he knows very well what danger and struggles we face. I found out Friday night at the candlelight vigil service that General Gonzales has a brother who is a police officer with the Houston Police Department in Texas. Thank you General Gonzales. Peter (Bensinger), Asa (Hutchinson), thank you so much for coming back to your family that you’ll always be a part of. Grant Ashley, it means the world to me to have FBI with us. The FBI was with us when Terry’s plane went down. It was the FBI who conducted the crash scene investigation. It was the FBI who downed their own planes until we could conclude the investigation of Terry’s plane. And it was the FBI and their counter-terrorism work before the election that brought Jay Balchunas out the night that he was killed. The loss of Jay and the loss of Terry were felt deeply at the FBI and by Bob Mueller who called me on both occasions immediately afterwards. And Robin (Foley), thank you so much for being with us as the person who gave Larry his paycheck and donated him to the DEA family for the great work that he did. I have the great privilege as Administrator of seeing the many, many highs in this agency — watching you and our colleagues as we experience some of the great successes in securing our nation’s safety and helping create a future of hope and opportunity for our children. I also see, however, the great lows, and today certainly marks some of those— the times when our guardianship of freedom comes at so precious a cost. Like you, no day passes when I don’t remember the dangers we confront and the perils we must overcome.
Today we pay special tribute to those who sacrificed their lives fighting drugs, safeguarding the right of every human being to live in peace and security in this nation. Tragically, but in loving remembrance, shortly before this ceremony, we added the names of three of those warriors to our Wall of Honor. The family of Wisconsin Narcotics Bureau Special Agent Jay Balchunas is here in the fourth row. I met them yesterday. I had the pleasure of talking to Luann, his fiancée, while Jay was fighting for his life in the hospital. His parents Don and Mary Kay are the best parents on this earth. His brother Dan and his sister Linda are just wonderful family, and they have their extended family and friends with them today and this past week. Only 34 at the time of his death, Jay had already devoted a lifetime to public service, beginning at age 11 as an Explorer Scout volunteering at the New Berlin Fire Department in Wisconsin. Jay’s dedication ran deep. His brother Dan, who I got to spend some time with along with the rest of the family at yesterday’s service, told me a story. I hope he doesn’t mind if I relate it. I asked Dan and Linda to tell me something funny about Jay. Dan immediately remembered that, when Jay was training he was so dedicated, he would come home and apprehend Dan—his baby brother, take him to the basement, handcuff him, hold him there, and then apparently on one occasion unbeknownst to his mom and dad, Jay went upstairs and had dinner and left his little brother handcuffed in the basement. I think Dan described himself as Jay’s “training dummy.” Special Agent Terry Loftus’wife Debbie and these precious kids Dornier, Banan, Mallory, and Ross are here. Ross was born after Terry’s death. Terry was killed in May, and Ross was born in October. Terry’s sister Denise, his brother Andy, and his incredible parents Pat and Iris are with us today along with Terry’s extended family and friends. When you talk to those who knew Terry, there was just no question about what was central in his life. His family, this incredible family, is in the second row. And flying, which was his passion as I recall from talking to Terry’s parents, his passion from the time he was on a tricycle headed down the road to go to the airport. I talked to the task force officer who had flown from Missouri to Chicago with Terry on that last successful flight. They were delivering a load of cocaine to the lab. The task force officer was deathly afraid of flying, and Terry focused on making him feel secure by talking with him. I asked the officer what Terry talked about. They talked about Terry’s family. They flew over the family house. They talked about how he and his dad were on opposite political ends. And he loved to gig his dad over their politics. And he talked about how he was training the kids to go to sleep watching “Hannity and Colmes” so that they could go to their grandparents and insist on watching the show. And he talked a lot about Debbie who was clearly central in his life, the love of his life. How fitting that that was the conversation Terry chose to soothe the fears of a task force officer who stayed on the ground in Chicago when Terry took off and crashed. Terry also felt very strongly about what we’re doing today--honoring his own colleagues. I didn’t know this until recently but when Terry was in our Baltimore office, he volunteered as an escort for families who fill up the first third of this auditorium today. He volunteered, like the DEA agents who have volunteered today to escort you to the memorial service just like today. And Larry Steilen is someone I did not have the honor to get to know. Larry Steilen was a Pilot Instructor, and he has been on our Aviation Division’s Wall of Honor in Texas but had not been placed on our Wall of Honor at headquarters. Today we are righting that wrong. We’re honoredhis wife Lysbeth, sister Tammy, and his mother- in-law Maria have joined us. Larry worked with DEA for years and went all the way back to Operation Snowcap in Peru. I was quite struck by the story on an occasion when our Snowcap agents were on the ground and drawing hostile fire as they were trying to do their job. It was Larry who took action. And Robin—Larry’s employer—forgive Larry, but he disobeyed all your rules. During hostile fire, without regard for his own safety, within firing range of the enemy, and against orders, he lowered his helicopter to hover over his comrades, our DEA agents, in order to protect them and make it possible for them to be safely rescued out of that zone in Peru. These are three incredible men, and they have made such a phenomenal difference. Not just to DEA and to the DEA family, but to this country. Many of their colleagues from Milwaukee, Chicago, and Fort Worth have made the trip to see, to remember, and to mark the incredible passing and the incredible contribution, for these men gave all they could possibly give to all of us. I have had the honor throughout the year to talk to many surviving family members. I think one of my most recent conversations is one I will never forget. It was a conversation with Kiki Camarena’s mother. She cannot speak English. But she learned enough English to say to me through tears, “Never forget.” The words of a mother who lost her son 20 years ago to abduction, torture, and murder. And we will not forget. Last March, Attorney General Gonzales joined us as we brought together Kiki’s family, his friends, the agents who investigated his death -- and employees who never knew him at all -- to remember and honor his life on that 20 th anniversary. No, we will not forget. Last month, ten years after the Oklahoma City bombing where DEA lost five members of our family, we gathered in front of the Wall of Honor here at headquarters to remember them with a moment of prayer and silence. And before that in August we gathered at the same Wall of Honor to pay tribute to the five agents who we lost ten years ago in Peru when their reconnaissance plane crashed. No, we will not forget. When Special Agent Richard Fass was shot and killed in Arizona in 1994 during an undercover methamphetamine deal, DEA led a six-year international manhunt for his killer. We went to the farthest corners of Mexico. And finally just four months ago, the killer of Agent Fass was returned to the United States to face what he feared the most—you know what it is—American justice. Coming before a U.S. court and having justice dispensed to him by an American jury. It took 11 years to bring that investigation full circle, but we do not forget, justice does not forget, and our country will never forget. Every year, DEA offices coast to coast hold memorial golf tournaments in honor of our fallen colleagues, raising money for the survivors. We will not forget the loved ones that our heroes had to leave behind. And every year on the anniversary date that each of our people died, we renew our commitment to our fallen heroes, and we mark the death of each one on the anniversary of their death with a notice to all DEA employees around the world reminding them of that hero’s sacrifice. We will not forget. And each class of our newest agents in DEA pays tribute to the memory of one of our lost heroes on that Wall of Honor by carrying a flag aloft and carrying it for 16 tough weeks of basic agent training. A flag that bears the name of one on the Wall of Honor who gave everything in the line of duty. No, we will not forget. And, in our offices around the world where Walls of Honor stand, employees pause before the photographs to remember the courage of these 75. It is the first thing I see when I come into headquarters every morning. These are the men and women who continue to inspire and lead us. We honor their memory every single day as we strive to give meaning to their bravery. They are not people who were dissuaded by the work of dethroning drug kingpins or in decimating criminal organizations. They advanced that work. And in their names, we will finish that work. We will not forget the sacrifice of our 75 fallen heroes, the aching unspeakable wound that these families feel every day. We will never forget the hole that has been left in the hearts of DEA colleagues both retired and active in DEA. The families of our fallen ones will never walk alone. You will forever be wrapped in the tight fold of the DEA family. Special Agent Everett Hatcher, who was killed in New York in 1989, was survived by his wife and two young sons. His oldest son, Zach, graduated in February from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center as a Special Agent with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. In a private ceremony this year, his mother presented to him his father’s DEA badge so he can carry that badge with him as a tangible reminder of his father’s courage in the fight against the evil of crime. Zach Hatcher and the thousands of DEA agents and Task Force Officers stand each day as sentinels at the line that separates good from evil in this land. Their steadfastness is borne of the memory of those who have come before, and it thrives in the afterglow of their valor. Our courageous warriors on the Wall—and on every similar Wall of Honor in every precinct of our country and in other agencies—are now safe in God’s loving Hands, but they remain in our hearts as our inspiration and our moral compass. More than twenty years ago, President Reagan dedicated the tomb of the unknown soldier from the Vietnam War just across the way here at Arlington National Cemetery. He described the soldier and the war he died fighting, in this way: “He saw the horrors of war but bravely faced them, certain that his own cause and his country’s cause was a noble one; that he was fighting for human dignity, for free men everywhere. Today we pause to embrace him and all who serve us so well in a war… [that] offers no parades, no flags, and so little thanks. We can be worthy of the values and ideals for which our sons sacrificed—worthy of their courage…by honoring their commitment and devotion to duty and country.” President Reagan’s words describe as well the noble men and women we honor today, the men and women who fought for a free and hopeful life for our children. To all the family members, may God bless you and grant you peace and comfort, and I promise you that the sacrifice of your loved one will never be forgotten in this agency no matter who is standing at the helm. We pray that we will be worthy of their courage and their devotion to their country. And we will do more than pray. We will work tirelessly in this battle they so nobly advanced. As President Bush has said, “We will not falter, and we will not fail.” And we will never forget. Thank you. ## |
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