 Now, to present the President of the United States, please. Two years ago, I saw close-up, very close-up, two profiles of courage, were it not for the brave efforts of Secret Service agents Jerry Parr and Tim McCarthy, I might not be speaking to you here today. When they realized before I did what was going on and literally threw me into a waiting car, Tim deliberately took a bullet that was intended for me. Fortunately, neither of these federal officers nor Washington patrolman Thomas Delahante nor my own press secretary Jim Brady lost their lives that day near the Hilton, although three of these men suffered severe injury. While serving their fellow citizens, however, other law enforcement officers, as we have been told today, have lost their lives. In recent months alone, no fewer, as you have been told, than 13 federal agents have been killed while on the job. Their deaths remind us again of difficult and the very hazardous tasks that we ask our federal law enforcement officers to carry out. Sometimes they must perform these duties in unfamiliar surroundings, sometimes must deal at close hand with the most destructive and unpredictable elements in our society. Frequently, their work is as routine as anyone else's, but they know without a doubt that someday, perhaps today, they may face danger and perhaps even tragedy. Nine days ago, tragedy did occur with the three Secret Service agents who died in that head-on collision on a mountain road in California. George Patrick Labarge, Donald W. Robinson and Donald Bedejeque died performing their professional duties. They were driving to Yosemite National Park where they were to provide protection for Queen Elizabeth. It's beyond our understanding or certainly we're not allowed to know just why these things happen, why these men should have been riding at that moment in that car, just as it eludes our understanding why four FBI agents should be in a plane that crashed outside of Cincinnati, Ohio on December 16th. Robert W. Connors, Charles L. Allington, Terry B. Herford and Michael J. Lynch died in the worst accident in FBI history. They too were faithfully doing their job. They were in search of embezzled money that was supposedly buried near Cincinnati. Agents or accounts, I should say, of homicides so frequently are in the newspapers and the nightly news that they almost seem commonplace, but no murder is commonplace. When a victim is a law enforcement officer, there's an added dimension. Here the assault is perpetrated not only against an innocent individual, but also against the society he represents and is solemnly sworn to protect. U.S. Marshals and Kenneth Muir and Robert Cheshire shot to death February 13th outside Medina North Dakota where they were attempting to serve a warrant on a man violating his probation on a tax evasion conviction. Correctional officer Gary Lee Rowe was responding February 7th to an alert of a possible escape attempt when inmates in federal prison, San Diego, fatally attacked him with an arsenal of homemade metal weapons. Correctional officer Gregory Johnny Gunter lost his life on of all days Christmas when, despite being off duty, he attempted to settle his dispute between two angry mobs of prisoners in the Federal Penal Institution at Petersburg, Virginia. Alcohol, tobacco, and firearm agent Ariel Rios, as the Secretary told, shot and killed December 2nd in Miami while working undercover on a cocaine investigation. And Thomas J. Devine of the Drug Enforcement Administration shot in the leg and the base of the neck October 12, 1972 by a suspect in an undercover narcotics investigation died from his wounds September 25th, 1982. It's wisely said that nothing worth having comes cheaply or easily and the price of a free nation is sometimes counted in the dearest currency, human life. These 13 men, all the best of professionals, were dedicated Americans. They gave their lives in a continuing battle to preserve the domestic peace and to make us America safe from those who would prey on the innocent. Our approach must be one of great appreciation for their work and their lives, and it's only imperfectly expressed by the gathering here today. The family members of each of these men bear a unique burden. It's my wish that they will find solace in the loyalty and support and friendship of the professionals their loved ones worked with and in the respect and gratitude of our citizens for the job they did. Finally, I hope and pray that all Americans will be inspired by the knowledge that each of them, these men died as few men do, a hero. One has said once that a hero is no braver than anyone else, he's just brave five minutes longer. But the men we're talking about today are brave every minute, every hour around the clock and have chosen that path of courage for their lives. And what of the heroism of those who share those lives and who know the possibility that each day holds? If you'd permit me to just tell a little personal story where perhaps I got my first realization of this heroism several years ago while I was still governor of California. Under a tragic assassination in our country, Secret Service were assigned to several of us in public office. And on weekends when I could, I liked to get to the ranch and sometimes do a little target shooting and plinking at tin cans and they liked to keep their hand in too. So together I was men and myself, be down in the woods and do some target shooting. And one day I mentioned that I had read an article on shooting from the hip. And they said, oh yes, we have to do that. And one of them set a tin can up and I went into a crouch as the article had said and I blazed away and the can was entirely untouched. And then one of them stepped up and standing erect took his turn. And I said, well, wait a minute, you didn't crouch. The article said that you go into a crouch and he sort of pebble pushed there for a minute. He didn't know quite how to answer me and he said, well, finally he mumbled, we lose our rating if we crouch. And I said, well, I don't understand. The article said and so forth and the unit chief that day took me off the spot or him off the spot. When he said to me, Governor, if we're ever shooting at anyone, we're between him and his target. It was quite an awakening. I think all of us should give thanks to God that there are men in this society of ours who are willing to take these jobs. Thank you very much, Mr. President. That concludes the memorial service. I want to thank all of you for being here. And as we go about our daily tasks, let us all be strengthened by the memory of these 13 exemplary individuals. Thank you.