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beer better, but whiskey works.”
The Emerald Society Pipes and Drums of the CPD was the
toast of the town during Police Week as the host band. And that was no more powerful than when one of its members performed the Midnight Piper on three consecutive nights beginning May 13 turning into May 14. The goosebumps-inducing bagpiping stoked the Memorial, providing a score to mark the memory of a lifetime for the hundreds who came out each night, as well as for the officers who played.
“Remembering the fallen is good, a shot is nice and having the haunting sounds of the pipes surrounding them is an ex- perience they will never forget,” proclaimed John Harmening, a detective with Area South and the band’s pipe major who did the second of the three Midnight Piper tours this year.
“It can become that surreal moment, like right now this is the only thing going on in the world,” Harmening continued. “It’s emotionally overwhelming for the officers and family members who have come to remember the fallen, and for those who per- form.”
On the nights that Gallas and Harmening played in the mid- night hour, rain poured for much of the evening. But when the pipes tuned up, the rain turned off and a glow hovered over the Memorial. Combined with the blue and white lights lining the pathways, surreal turned to sublime.
The loop figured to be a four-song set, and both pipers ap- propriately opened with “Honor Our Fallen.” But there was a need for encores because during their sets, both Harmening and Gallas fulfilled the tradition started in the 1990s to stop at spots on the wall where names of colleagues or friends are in- scribed.
THE SOUND CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35 Fulfilling the duty to play
The sting of emotion lingered for band member Tom Gallas even after the final note he played at the National Law Enforce- ment Officers Memorial just after midnight as May 13 turned to May 14. Per Emerald Society tradition, Gallas was the midnight piper the night of the Candlelight Vigil. After hearing the names read at the Vigil and then playing a solo while walking a full lap around the Memorial, Gallas had to reach the point of emotion- al exhaustion. But the sorrowful tone of the evening hung heavy and Gallas decided to grab a nightcap before turning in.
He was joined by his wife and Harmening as they walked to- ward their hotel and found a basement bar that looked quiet enough to fit their solemn mood. Upon ordering their drinks, Gallas and Harmening couldn’t help but notice that they weren’t the only law enforcement officers still out and about at 1 a.m., perhaps looking to end the night with a salute to those no lon- ger there to clink a glass with them.
“Here we are running into someone who was up and feel- ing that same overwhelming feeling of emotion we were,” Har- mening described.
That someone happened to be a Gold Star Family member from California who lost her brother this past year. Officers who worked with him were also there. They had just heard his name announced at the Candlelight Vigil a few hours earlier and ap- parently felt a sense of grief that kept them from sleeping.
After listening to her story, Gallas and Harmening knew what
During his performance, Harmening paused to honor Chica- go Police Officer James Henry Camp. A week before Camp was lost on March 9, 1999, Harmening had been on patrol with him.
Gallas made four such stops during his tour. Each one helped him fulfill what he explained was his duty here.
“I hope I did a good job for everybody who has their name on those panels,” he stated. “That’s what it ultimately comes down to. I’m very happy to come out here to represent our band and all the officers that have been lost.”
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial turned penetratingly silent when pipes struck midnight. Perhaps it was so any officer anywhere could hear the reverberation of “Min- strel Boy.”
Music to remember by, however, proved as equally moving for the performers as it was for those at the Memorial. But that’s because the Midnight Piper puts an exclamation point on Na- tional Police Week.
On May 15 – National Peace Officers Memorial Day – the tra- dition is for the wreath on which family members place a rose during a service at the U.S. Capitol to be brought to the Me- morial. That event was officially cancelled this year because of expected rain.
But members of the Chicago Police Department Honor Guard brought the wreath anyway. And the Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society Chicago Police Department played to complete its mission.
“Our job isn’t to grieve with the families, but to give them an outlet to grieve,” Harmening emphasized. “It evokes an emo- tional response, and in some instances, you see people break down and cry. They have to have that outlet.” d
to do next. Still, Gallas caught the bar by surprise when he stood and brought the pipe reed to his mouth to start playing a set of remembrance in honor of this fallen officer. Going above and beyond the call of duty at Police Week was not limited to the time of day for the host band, especially when a piper’s call to action could appear around any street corner or through the door of any dimly lit bar in the middle of the night.
“We’re there to support everybody,” Harmening noted. “And the way we do it is through our performance of bagpipe and drum music.”
The host band’s commitment to supporting the families called for more than one impromptu performance. The Pipes & Drums of the Emerald Society CPD was also known to show up to bars, even in plain clothes, with their instruments and demand the music be shut off for a short set to honor the fallen outside of the scheduled Police Week events.
“We teach them that respect and honor is part of our career,” stressed Don Hill, a CPD detective who has played the bagpipes in the band for 20 years and has participated in Police Week be- fore. “Hopefully (other officers) learn from us the same way we had learned from other guys. It’s about respect and teaching the tradition of honor.”
The officers of the Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald So- ciety Chicago Police Department are used to the vow that as law enforcement, they are never really off duty. And at National Police Week, the host band found the same to be true as they responded time and time again to honor the fallen, no matter the circumstances, the time, the place or even monsoon. d
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