Page 30 - April 2017 Newsletter

Memorable Memorial
No new names of officers lost in the line of duty in 2016 will be added to the FOP wall of remembrance
n BY DAN CAMPANA
When crowds gather on May 2 to pay tribute to fallen Chicago police officers, they will do so to keep promises.
The promise never to forget the men and women who gave their lives to protect others is ingrained early in an of- ficer’s career. There’s also the promise to care for the fami- lies who are forever shaken by the loss of their loved ones.
A renewal of those covenants will take place on May 2 at the Chicago Lodge 7 Memorial Service and the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation’s 24-hour Honor Guard Vigil. Those in attendance will pause to think about the sacrifices made by the 575 officers who died in the line of duty. They will see stricken families supporting one another. And they will take solace in the fact that no Chicago police officers were lost in the line of duty in 2016, and no new names need to be added to the FOP’s memorial wall of remem- brance.
“It is critically important for folks to be present at events like the memorial service and candlelight vigil, with the need to memorialize these officers who have made such a tremendous sacrifice and whose families continually make
that sacrifice,” said Chicago Police Department Chaplain Father Dan Brandt.
Brandt highlights the point by describing how recruits at the Chicago Police Academy hear a story each day about an officer lost on the job around that day in history.
“At the end of the story, the recruit who reads the story ends by screaming, ‘He will never be forgotten,’” Brandt said. “Everybody assembled screams back, ‘He will never be forgotten.’ It’s really powerful.
“By assembling at the FOP Hall in May and at the memo- rial, we keep that promise to never forget,” Brandt added.
Phil Cline, executive director of the Chicago Police Me- morial Foundation, has spent 10 years with the organiza- tion, which memorializes the fallen, while also helping the loved ones left behind to cope with the long-lasting impact of line-of-duty tragedies. Survivors receive a lot of atten- tion through the time of the funeral, but eventually, the focus begins to lessen.
“We’re there to remind them they’re not forgotten,” Cline said. “The families want to feel like they belong. The fam- ilies still want to be part of the police family. They will “al- ways be part of the Chicago police family.”
Chicago Lodge 7 Memorial Service Commemorating National Police Awareness Month
May 2 • Noon
FOP Hall, 1412 W. Washington Blvd.
Chicago Police Memorial Foundation 24-Hour Honor Guard Vigil
Gold Star Families Memorial and Park 1410 S. Museum Campus Drive
30 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ APRIL 2017
That welcoming warmth, which keeps memories of ap- preciation fresh, gives Brandt a sense of pride. “Every time the families are invited back for something, every time their loved one is remembered, it brings some little piece of joy to knock away some of the sorrow they feel,” he explained.
Cline points out that another family — the city’s 12,000 police officers — is the backbone of the foundation’s mis- sion. He said the memorials carry meaning for those cur- rently on the job in that they highlight how the number of people supporting law enforcement is far greater than those who are attacking it with negativity.
“It’s important to have these events to remind them not everyone feels that way,” Cline said.
Brandt is thankful that no new names have been added to the wall since the “awful year” of 2010, when five officers were killed while on duty.
“We hope to never put another name on the wall,” Cline said, acknowledging the practical reality behind that wish. And whenever the day for that might come, more prom-
ises will be kept in the names of the fallen.
“They are not just memorialized in stone,” Brandt said,
“but in the hearts of believers who come together to pray on a regular basis.” d