WASHINGTON -- President Reagan, whose life may have been saved by two agents during an assassination attempt, stopped to pay tribute to 13 federal law officers who died in the line of duty in the past six months.
'Two years ago, I saw very close up two profiles of courage,' Reagan said Monday. 'Were it not for the brave efforts of Secret Service Agents Jerry Parr and Timothy McCarthy, I might not be speaking with you here today.'
On March 30, 1981, Parr shoved Reagan into his waiting limousine and McCarthy was shot in the abdomen when John Hinckley Jr. opened fire at the presidential party leaving a Washington hotel. Reagan, press secretary Jim Brady and a Washington police officer also were wounded.
'Tim deliberately took the bullet that was intended for me,' Reagan told the ceremony to honor the 13 men, including three Secret Service agents who died nine days ago while providing security for Queen Elizabeth in California.
Reagan said the deaths of the 13 law enforcement officials serve to remind Americans of the difficult and hazardous task 'we ask our law enforcement officials to carry out.'
'These 13 men, all the best of professionals, were dedicated Americans,' Reagan said. 'They gave their lives in the continuing battle to preserve the domestic peace and to make America safe from those who prey on the innocent.'
After the service Reagan left the Great Hall and went down an elevator, then decided to return to greet the families of the slain agents.
Robert Cole Conners, 5, whose father, FBI agent Robert Conners, died in December in a plane crash, reached up to hug Reagan and gave him an Easter card.
The boy's mother, Beverly Ann Conners, told officials her son really wanted to hug Reagan, but she told him that he probably would not get near the president.
The deceased included four FBI agents; three Secret Service agents; two Bureau of Prisons employees; a Drug Enforcement Administration agent; an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and two federal marshals.
