Annual ceremony to honor fallen heroes

Posted by ChaddsFordLive on May 7, 2016

Members of the Chester County Sheriff's Office present flags during the 2015 Law Enforcement Memorial Service.

On Thursday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. members of law enforcement, lawmakers, and public officials will gather for a somber but important ceremony, and the public is invited to attend.

The Chester County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 11 has a permanent memorial to fallen officers outside its West Chester headquarters.

Once a year, during National Police Week, the contingent gathers at the headquarters of the Chester County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 11 in downtown West Chester to honor Chester County’s fallen heroes – nine members of law enforcement who continue to inspire undying gratitude for their ultimate sacrifice.

The event will also pay tribute to the 128 police officers across the county who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2015, including five from Pennsylvania: Robert F. Wilson III of the Philadelphia Police Department on March 5; Paul J. Koropal of the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on May 5; Eric Alan Eslary of the Ligonier Township Police Department, also on May 5; John James Wilding of the Scranton Police Department on July 12; and Lloyd E. Reed, Jr. of the St. Clair Township Police Department on Nov. 28.

This year’s speakers will include State FOP President Les Neri, District Attorney Tom Hogan, West Goshen Township Police Chief Joseph Gleason, and the Rev. Jack Crans.

A memorial at Chester County FOP Lodge No. 11 contains the names of the members of county law enforcement who lost their lives in the line of duty. Each year the names are read during the ceremony. They span a wide time frame – from 1887 when Benjamin Irey, a sheriff on his way to serve court papers was fatally struck by a train, to 1988 when Parkesburg Officer Douglas H. Pyle died in a motorcycle crash on the way back from a training program.

Mindful of the risks that police take every day, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed in 1962 that May 15 would be National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls would be National Police Week. Established by a joint resolution of Congress later that same year, the week includes a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on May 15.

The Chester County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 11 is located at 218 N. Church St., West Chester.