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From YouTube: 30th Annual Peace Officers Memorial Candlelight Service
Description
The Peace Officers Memorial Candlelight Service pays tribute to local, state and federal peace officers who were killed in the line of duty or died while serving. The 30th annual service will be available to watch live at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 4.
A
B
B
C
E
F
C
G
G
G
G
May
15th
is
officially
peace
officers.
Memorial
day
this
year,
national
peace
officers
week
will
be
observed.
May
11
to
the
17th.
This
day
was
designated
in
1962
by
president
john
f
kennedy.
Every
year,
tens
of
thousands
of
law
enforcement
officers
and
their
families
participate
in
services
as
ours
to
honor
those
that
have
paid
the
ultimate
sacrifice.
G
H
Good
evening,
it's
a
privilege
to
stand
before
you
all
today.
I
want
to
give
special
thanks
to
bowie
and
john
devaney
for
always
giving
us
the
opportunity
every
year
to
have
this
memorial
service
and
remember
those
who
are
following
in
the
line
of
duty
as
well
as
to
recognize
those
of
you
who
continue
to
keep
us
safe.
I
had
the
privilege
of
introducing
the
deputy
state
director
for
senator
josh
hawley
sam
safa
to
present
the
special
remarks
tonight.
H
Sam
currently
serves
as
senator
hawley's
deputy
state
director,
where
he
represents
the
greater
st
louis
region
for
senator
hawley.
Prior
to
his
current
role,
sam
was
senator
hawley's
political
director
on
his
campaign
for
united
states
senate.
Same
was
raised
right
here
in
saint
charles
county
and
lives
in
wenceville,
with
his
wife,
bonnie
and
their
little
girl,
and
unfortunately,
the
senator
could
not
be
with
us
himself
tonight,
but,
as
all
of
you
know,
josh
hawley
was
raised
in
rural
missouri.
H
He
is
previously
served
as
the
missouri
state
attorney
general.
Since
his
election
to
the
united
states
senate
in
2019,
senator
hawley
has
been
recognized
as
a
champion
of
law
enforcement.
Senator
hall,
senator
hawley
and
his
wife
aaron
are
proud
parents
of
three
young
children.
On
behalf
of
senator
hawley,
I
introduce
sam
safa.
I
Thank
you
tim
good
evening.
Everyone,
my
name
is
sam
safa,
and
I
am
here
tonight
on
behalf
of
u.s
senator
hawley.
Unfortunately,
the
u.s
senate
is
in
session
this
week,
but
senator
hawley
was
unable
to
attend,
but
I
want
to
thank
you
all
at
the
outset
for
allowing
me
to
offer
some
brief
remarks
on
his
behalf
tonight.
I
We're
gathered
here
to
pay
tribute
to
the
law
enforcement
officers
of
saint
charles
county,
who
have
made
the
ultimate
sacrifice,
while
in
the
line
of
duty
in
many
cases
their
sacrifices
were
for
people
they
did
not
know
or
for
people
they
have
not.
They
did
not
yet
meet,
and
we
thank
god
for
their
courage
as
we
reflect
on
their
sacrifices.
I
We
cannot,
and
we
must
not
forget
the
men
and
women
the
officers
that
they
left
behind.
Many
of
these
officers
are
gathered
with
us
tonight,
still
standing
in
the
gap
defending
us
here
at
home
and
while
we
honor
our
fallen
tonight,
we
must
acknowledge
today
too
many
in
our
country
cast
our
police
officers
as
agents
of
oppression.
I
I
Without
law
enforcement
officers
prepared
to
risk
their
lives
and
to
give
their
lives
to
enforce
and
make
available
to
us
the
fair
and
equal
rule
of
law.
Our
constitution
is
nothing
more
than
a
parchment
barrier.
It
may
as
well
not
exist
at
all.
Without
these
brave
men
and
women,
no
nation,
no
community
can
long
endure
the
breakdown
of
the
basic
operation
of
law,
and
that
is
why
the
job
that
our
law
enforcement
officers
do
is
still
vital
night
after
night.
I
I
Senator
hawley's
view
is
what
our
police
officers
need
is
not
less
funding.
It's
not
defunding,
it's
not
disrespect.
What
they
need
is
our
support.
What
they
need
is
for
the
leaders
of
our
country
and
for
the
good
men
and
women
of
our
communities
to
say
we're
with
you.
We
support
you.
We
will
stand
with
you
in
your
vital
and
important
work
that
you
do.
I
The
officers
we
are
honoring
tonight
gave
their
lives
for
this
rule
of
law
and
we
solemnly
thank
them
for
it,
along
with
their
families
and
all
those
they
leave
behind,
and
that's
why
we're
gathered
here
tonight
to
recognize
and
to
remember
to
honor
those
who
have
gone
before
us
to
stand
again
with
our
law
enforcement
to
affirm
the
vital
role
that
they
play
in
making
sure
every
resident
of
saint
charles
county
is
safe
every
night
and
so
on
behalf
of
senator
hawley.
I
want
to
thank
you
all
for
gathered
here.
Thank
you
to
our
officers.
I
J
J
I
humbly,
thank
god
that
you
are
here
in
attendance,
to
support
me
to
support
law
enforcement
and
to
make
certain
that
my
sacrifice
that
my
family
sacrifice
was
not
in
vain.
I
can
tell
you
that
the
journey
started
in
1987
when
jeffrey
was
shot
in
the
line
of
duty
catastrophically.
He
bled
out
four
times
that
night.
The
doctor
that
had
worked
on
john
lennon
was
here
teaching
advanced
trauma
techniques
that
bullet
pierced,
the
vena
cava,
and
it
tore
up
every
organ
in
his
abdominal
stomach.
J
So
whenever
I
was
sitting
at
the
police
association
hall
on
april
13th
of
this
year
and
I'm
staring
across
the
hall
as
a
veteran
as
a
spouse
as
a
forever
widow,
I
see
my
late
husband's
picture
on
the
wall.
They
have
all
the
line
of
duty
deaths.
There
and
lead
belly
is
looking
at
me
and
I'm
having
an
internal
dialogue
with
him
and
with
god,
and
I
said
why.
Why
am
I
here
because
of
a
roll
of
quarters
because
of
a
laundromat
robbery?
J
My
phone
went
off
god
answered
me
that
quickly.
I
turn
it
over
and
there's
a
private
message
from
a
tom
wilkerson
from
saint
charles
county
unbeknownst.
To
me
he
had
been
a
st
louis
city
officer.
We
had
met
before
and
he
knew
my
late
husband
and
in
that
moment
I
knew
that,
as
he
said,
would
you
be
willing?
J
I
said
it
would
be
my
honor,
so
I
can
tell
you
over
the
course
of
jeffrey's
lifetime.
He
spent
many
many
years
dying
in
the
line
of
duty
and
our
family
was
subjected
to
that.
While
our
story
is
not
the
fact
that
he
died
that
night,
but
rather
he
died
every
night
a
little
bit
more
until
2008
we
had
many
years
on
the
police
department.
Together
I
had
to
go
ahead
and
resign.
I
became
a
doj
grant
administrator
and
I
later
became
a
reporter.
We
had
to
move
down
to
texas
his
leg
developed,
gator
leg.
J
They
were
going
to
take
it
off
amputate
that,
because
the
mayo
clinic
said
that
there
was
nothing
else
they
could
do.
I
made
the
call
that
I
think
the
the
warm
weather
might
save
your
legs,
so
we
saved
the
leg.
We
won
the
battle,
we
last
the
war
we
get
to
south
texas
and
he
does
develop
two
kinds
of
cancers.
One
is
at
the
site
of
the
re-anastomosis
of
the
gastric
bypass
and
the
other
one's
the
pancreas.
J
J
He
could
not
break
down
food,
so
many
people
saw
a
strong
man
that
went
back
to
to
work
to
his
calling
his
location,
but
they
didn't
see
us
at
home
a
family
of
women
having
to
go
ahead
and
assist
him
in
his
time
of
need
the
leg
developed
wounds
and
we
had
to
learn
how
to
debride
those
wounds.
They
went
down
to
the
bone.
He
had
clots
size,
a
port
tenderloin
tumor
in
his
groin.
J
Finally,
he
had
to
take
the
disability
pension
in
2000
and
we
moved
down
to
south
texas
we're
down
there
and
he
finds
out
that
the
jaundice
is
presenting
and
it
looks
like
another
pancreatitis
attack,
but
it's
much
worse.
It's
two
stage:
four
cancers
we're
going
to
get
flown
back
up
here
I
humbly,
thank
god
for
the
backstoppers
they
stepped
up
and
they
did
things
for
our
family
that
sometimes
we
were
forgotten
as
a
family
down
there
on
the
border
of
mexico.
J
I
thank
you
tonight
for
being
here
as
well.
I
can
tell
you
that
we
don't
get
over.
It
doesn't
get
better.
It
gets
different
is
what
it
gets
so
anytime
that
you
might
be
offering
words
of
condolences
to
one
of
us
or
to
someone
that
you
know,
because
we're
not
none
of
us
are
getting
out
of
here
alive,
you're
going
to
want
to
use
probably
the
word.
It
will
get
different
you're
going
to
still
have
waves
of
grief.
J
Now,
while
I
was
sitting
at
that
association
hall
on
april
13th
this
year,
I
was
upset
because
at
the
beginning
of
april,
out
of
the
post
dispatch,
I'm
sitting
there
looking
at
the
face
of
the
man
who
shot
my
husband,
tony
messenger
has
done
a
column.
He
could
not
spell
the
line
of
duty
death's
officer's
name
correctly.
J
J
J
I
will
be
back
there
again
in
november
unless
this
lawsuit
filed
by
a
112
million
dollar
foundation
out
of
chicago
somehow
says
that
this
man
served
his
time
and
he
was
just
self-medicating
and
he
never
really
did
it.
So
I'm
going
to
ask
you
to
lift
my
family
up
in
prayer.
I
know
there
are
many
of
you
that
have
your
own
needs,
but
when
a
family
sacrifices
for
the
greater
good,
sometimes
we
just
need
a
little
bit
more
from
you.
I
humbly
appreciate
you
all
being
here,
I'm
sorry
it's
raining
and
I'm
sorry.
J
B
N
G
We
light
candles
in
remembrance
of
the
many
sacrifices
the
men
and
women
of
law
enforcement
have
made
to
protect
the
citizens
of
our
communities.
We
are
mindful
that
every
58
hours,
another
law
enforcement
officer,
will
give
up
his
or
her
life
for
perfect
strangers
in
a
profession.
That
is
more
than
just
a
job.
G
G
B
B
I
am.
Are
you
resolved
to
protect
the
innocent,
the
weak
and
the
peaceful,
always
respecting
their
constitutional
rights?
I
am.
Are
you
resolved
to
keep
your
private
life
unsullied
to
be
honest
and
thought?
Indeed,
in
both
your
personal
and
official
life?
Are
you
resolved
to
enforce
the
laws
of
our
country,
state,
county
and
municipalities,
courteously
and
appropriately?
B
C
C
C
A
Lord,
we
honor
we
remember,
and
we
will
never
forget
those
who
have
entered
the
kingdom
much
sooner
than
they
should
have,
and
god
I
pray
for
those
who
serve
our
communities.
Today.
We
pray
for
safety,
we
pray
for
mercy,
we
pray
for
justice
as
they
sacrifice
for
us
god.
I
ask
for
you
to
protect
those
who
protect
us
and
god.
I
ask
that
no
more
names
be
added
to
this
list
and
be
read
in
this
memorial,
father
god.
We
thank
you
in
the
name
of
your
son.
Jesus
amen.
G
G
As
family
members
to
gather
by
the
department
signs
for
the
individual
departments
to
place
flowers
on
each
of
the
graves
of
all
peace
officers
interred
at
st
charles
memorial
gardens,
families
of
those
killed
in
the
line
of
duty
may
take
the
candles
as
a
special
memory
tonight
that
are
up
on
the
table.
I
would
like
to
thank
the
peace
officers
memorial
service
committee,
the
many
participants
in
tonight's
ceremony,
our
guest
speaker
on
behalf
of
u.s
senator
missouri,
josh
hawley,
and
the
families
and
supporters
of
our
officers
serving
to
protect
our
community.
Thank
you.
God
bless.