A day etched in Chattanooga history

“Calmness, rustling leaves, screeching tires, gun fire……the morning of July 16, 2015, one chapter of our history came to an end in Chattanooga.  We learned names that will forever be bound up in the Chattanooga story, Holmquist, Wells, Sullivan, Wyatt, and Smith. They are not victims, they are marines and sailors…. It was stamped in their DNA, being a sailor being a marine.  It’s not what they did like all of you.  It’s who they are…..these are the men made of the stuff that makes this the greatest country on earth…We have no words for what you feel today, because try as we may and try as we do, we can never fully know…..I know no memorial, no words, no acts can provide the solace your hearts yearn to acquire… We are the many, the just, the noble, and that the few threaten or incite harm to American’s violent extremists or terrorists wherever they are will surely very surely no matter how long it takes will come to feel the long arm and the hard fist of justice…..”
 
Taps
 
Chattanooga Strong