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And, year after year, some of the men and women who make up this guardianship give the last full measure of devotion to their communities, and to the people who live there.
For this reason, we shared in the pride and the quiet mourning of those who gathered last Monday to observe the annual Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony in front of the Victoria County Sheriff’s Office.
Under a sky fittingly gray and somber, citizens gathered with leaders in law enforcement and local government to remember once again the eight officers who have fallen in the line of duty in Victoria since 1911, and the 187 nationwide who fell from the ranks last year alone.
“It’s important that we honor these officers,” said B.J. Kloesel, an alumnus of the Civilian Police Academy. “It’s not an easy job.”
These public servants not only “protect and serve” as law enforcement officers, but they also are husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. Their loss, therefore, is felt not only by the communities they protect, but by the families and friends who love them.
In every shot fired in the 21-gun salute, in every word of gratitude spoken, in every hand raised slowly in salute, we try to say thank you to each and every one of them.
It is the best we can do, and we do it from the heart.
But can it ever be enough for what they’ve given us?