Fallen Heroes Day
A Memorable Occasion on a Rare Day Out

By Dr. Bob Hieronimus, Ph.D.

For the past several years, as our friend Mika Brzezinski would say – I have hardly had time to go to the bathroom. But this year I managed to get to revisit with some very dear friends that needed support, in the aftershock of the Baltimore City Riots. On the beautiful day of May 8th, I once again attended the Baltimore County Police Department memorial services for “Fallen Heroes” those who lost their lives serving Baltimore County. I took some photos, as usual, of this very important event and I’ve included a few of them here, which are mostly “selfies”. I’m not so good at selfies, so my apologies for some of these poor shots – no one to blame but myself! Unfortunately, in the rush to get all these photos, I missed the chance to get some of them, and I especially regret missing one with Colonel Dennis Robinson (Ret.) Denny and his wife, who were especially helpful to me that day.

While I enjoyed being with all these officers of all ranks the most impressive moment was when James W. Johnson, Chief of Police gave his speech. I am including it here, taken from the Memorial Service program. I was damned glad I was there to hear it.

Click images to enlarge.

As usual I studied each page of the program, and have taken liberties in adding a few pages that I thought my fellow Baltimore County-ites should know. In the last decade seven of our men in blue died in service to our County. Here is the list of those seven:

This annual event takes place in early May every year, and if you haven’t attended the police memorial, we recommend you go next year. Here’s what this year’s program tells you about it.

No one asked or pressured me to speak out about this event. I just felt more attention needed to be focused on those who serve us. I did thank Police Chief Jim Johnson for his message. There are certainly bad apples somewhere in every police department, but I would like to say not in Baltimore County. Much of that has to do with those who have led by example. Join us sometime to attend these memorial services for those who are our shields and who maintain the peace with integrity, fairness and service. They deserve our continued support.