As police-community relations get national attention, LB law-enforcement, firefighters salute their fallen

Cory Bilicko
Managing Editor
Although the City of Long Beach takes time each year to honor the local public-safety workers who have perished in the line of duty since 1912, this year’s ceremony seemed to take on a deeper significance, as national attention has increasingly focused on relations between police and community in recent months.

Pastor Tim Buzbee, in his invocation at the beginning of the event Tuesday morning, asked for resolve for counterparts in the city of Baltimore, as they face civil unrest. He also asked for a “shield of protection” around that city’s law-enforcement, firefighters and military as they answer the call to duty.
“We’re… aware of the vulnerability of these two occupations that they hold,” Buzbee said of law-enforcement and fire personnel. “Police and firefighters are typically rushing in as everyone else is fleeing, each and every day when the badge is pinned on and the shift begins.”
During his own remarks later, Police Chief Robert Luna referred to Long Beach’s fallen heroes as the epitome of selflessness because they gave their lives in serving their community.

“For that, we thank and honor them and their families,” Luna said. “Memorials such as this are a way to provide honor to people who valiantly sacrificed their lives in service to others. More importantly, they serve as reminders of the terrible but necessary sacrifices we must make to maintain a free and safe community.”
The police chief also said that such memorial services provide public-safety personnel, as well as their families and friends, with “an affirmation of our commitment to our community’s well-being.”
He said that law-enforcement personnel face deadly threats every day, and he provided statistics on police fatalities.

“A total of 1,466 law-enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years— an average of one death every 60 hours,” he said. “Over that same period, there have been nearly 59,000 assaults against police officers or law-enforcement each year, resulting in over 50,000 injuries. The officers we will recognize today left in the prime of their life, with unfulfilled dreams, ambitions and unfinished work. They left families, friends and co-workers with a void that remains unfilled.”
However, Luna then quoted Peter Marshall, the former chaplain of the United States Senate, as saying, “The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.”
“By anyone’s measure, these fallen heroes have made immeasurable donation to our city and the citizens of Long Beach,” Luna said.
After Luna’s speech, Police Deputy Chief Michael Beckman then read aloud the names of the city’s police officers who died on the job, as well as the year they perished.
The fallen police officers were: Thomas Borden, 1912; Major J.R. Wilkinson, 1923; Orlando Bridgeman, 1923; Robert Halstead, 1926; George Walls, 1928; Ralph Morgan, 1931; William Maclean, 1934; Delbert Buckman, 1940; Engebrit Larson, 1942; Sylvia Sievers, 1943; Harold Irwin, 1945; Cecil Singer, 1945; Marlin Evans, 1949; Jesse Ream, 1950; Robert Morgan, 1950; William H. Waggoner, 1954; Frederick Walsh, 1957; Vernon Owings, 1960; Richard Lefebvre, 1965; Robert Smith, 1965; William Isham, 1967; Donald Knott, 1967; Robert Birdsall, 1975; Franke Lewis, 1975; Gary Elkins, 1976; Lloyd Lund, 1981; Karl Simons, 1996; Daryle Black, 2000; and Edward Davenport, 2003.
Fire Chief Mike Duree then addressed the gathering, saying that for over 116 years, the men and women of the Long Beach Fire Department have said goodbye to their families and gone to work, undergone their routine checks of equipment, ensured their protective equipment was in its place— ready to be donned at a moment’s notice— put on their uniforms and proudly displayed their badge over their heart. He said it is a symbol to some, but for those who wear it, it represents much more.
“It represents a willingness to sacrifice self in service to another,” Duree said. “It represents a willingness to run towards danger while others flee. It represents the names on this monument you will see behind me and the ultimate sacrifice they made in service to our community.”
Duree said that, although Long Beach police and fire departments do not receive daily, national media attention, as some other cities do, the men and women of these two departments have engaged in countless heroic efforts that have resulted in the preservation of life, property and environment locally.

“The best tribute that we can bestow upon those that have given their lives in service to our city and our community is to continue to provide the same level of world-class service that those we lost provided themselves,” Duree said. “It is in their honor that we continue to dedicate ourselves to those we serve.”
Deputy Fire Chief Rich Brandt then read the names of the fire-department personnel whose lives were lost during their service to the city. Those individuals were: Joseph Shrewsbury, 1916; H. Stanley Ellis, 1924; E.L.Howard, 1925; Forrest Reynolds, 1928; Percy Forker, 1933; A.B. Stephens, 1933; George Jewels, 1938; Marc Mims, 1951; Frank Wood, 1953; Kent Holliday, 1964; Eddie Rickley, 1969; Gary Abram, 1972; and Theodore Klobuchar, 1974.
The memorial concluded with a 21-gun salute from the Long Beach Police Honor Guard Shotgun Detail, LBPD Officer John McVay performing “Taps” on trumpet and bagpipe musician Dave Armstrong playing “Amazing Grace.”