Good evening. It’s truly an honor to be here with DC Fire and EMS, and so many of your friends and supporters tonight. I am proud to count myself among them. After almost four decades in the Marine Corps, I’ve been to an award ceremony or two. 

But I’ve never been to one honoring the very folks who saved my own life. So first, let me just say again to our awardees, both from DC Fire and EMS, and the bystanders who leapt into action: thank you.   

Thank you for what you did that day, on 29 October 2023. And thank you for what you stand willing, able, and ready to do, every day. It is because of you all, our first responders, that I, and First Sergeant Battershall, and so many others, can be here at all. 

Chief Donnelly, thank you for extending the invitation to come say a few words. The First Sergeant and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Mayor Bowser, it’s a pleasure to see you, ma’am. Thank you for continuing to tolerate the Marine Barracks and ignoring those noise complaints during parade season. 

Now, I’m following up the Chief and Mayor Bowser and our awardees and I’m well aware that I am the last thing standing between a room full of certified badasses and their supper.  So I’ll be brief. And I also know, that while I want to stand here and personally thank each and every one of you, by name, for what you do I know that you aren’t the type to want to be recognized. I know that because, in this room, I recognize the same qualities I see when a Marine Recruit raises their right hand for the first time and swears an oath to the constitution, and to the people of our great Nation.   

In you, ladies and gentlemen, I recognize the same core values of honor, courage, and commitment that we strive to imbue in our Marines. They are the everyday traits of a sense of obligation, and common decency, and willingness to act.  They are the virtues that lead everyday men and women to do extraordinary things. And they are the characteristics that save lives every single day.  

Tonight, we’re honoring the fine men and women who saved my life, and First Sergeant Battershall’s. And as the Commandant, I am fortunate to have a platform from which I can give you the thanks and appreciation you so very much deserve. But mine and First Sergeant’s are hardly the only stories of bravery and heroism to tell about DC Fire and EMS. And the more I learn, the more I see kindred spirits between our Marines, and our brave first responders. They are two groups who would – and have – laid down their lives for their friends or complete strangers. 

Just last week, I read the story of Edward Mizenko, Ricard Schaffer, Michael Huskins, John Kirkpatrick, and Corey Parrott. How on October 8, 2023, those five men braved rough waters in their Fireboat to respond to a distress call. Not to be deterred by the waves, they risked their own lives to provide lifesaving aid to a severely injured police officer who had already fallen overboard in the channel. 

And I learned about Anthony Phillips Senior – he went by “Sauce”.  I would’ve liked to have learned that story.  I bet someone in this room knows it. He and fellow firefighter, Louis Matthews, passed in May of 1999, while battling a townhouse fire on Cherry Road in DC. I’d bet they didn’t know the name of a single person in that building. But to heroes like those, and like the ones I see sitting here in this room, that’s just a minor detail. 

That willingness to sacrifice for your fellow man, regardless of race, color, or creed, is what makes this group special. And it is the linkage I see, between my tribe and yours. I am very proud to count DC Fire and EMS among the friends of our Corps.   

And not because of what you did for me – but because of what you do every day for anybody who needs help. I went in as a John Doe. And my life was saved with the same urgency you would’ve given me if I was wearing this uniform. 

That’s all that needs to be said about the character of every man and woman in this room. You make me proud to be an American.

God bless DC Fire and EMS, and God Bless America. Semper Fidelis.