Ceremony at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., recalls deadliest day in U.S. law enforcement history
WASHINGTON – It remains the deadliest day in U.S. law enforcement history: 72 peace officers killed in the line of duty during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Ten years after that tragic day, these heroic men and women will be remembered during a ceremony at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
At 10 a.m., on Friday, Sept. 9, United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will join board members, supporters and staff of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, as well as dignitaries from law enforcement agencies that lost (an) officer(s) on 9/11, at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. for a special ceremony. The names of the 72 officers are engraved together on Line 23 of Panels 9 through 22 of the Memorial’s west wall. Following brief remarks, the officers’ names will be read aloud, and a wreath will be laid in their honor.
Memorial Fund Chairman & CEO Craig W. Floyd
“Over the past 10 years, the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001 seem to have faded a bit from our collective consciousness. But the service and sacrifice of the 72 courageous law enforcement heroes who laid down their own lives that day for the safety and protection of others will always be remembered here at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial,” said Floyd.
Among the law enforcement officers who died on 9/11 were 71 killed at the World Trade Center, plus one officer — Richard Guadagno, a sworn refuge manager with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — who was among the passengers who died in Pennsylvania while fighting to regain control of Flight 93 from the terrorists. Thirty-seven members of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Force, including its Superintendent, Fred Morrone, died on 9/11; that represents the most fatalities suffered by a single law enforcement agency in one day in U.S. history.
Also killed at the World Trade Center that day were 23 members of the New York City Police Department; five members of the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance; three members of the New York State Office of Court Administration; a special agent with the FBI; a master special officer with the U.S. Secret Service; and a New York City fire marshal who had sworn law enforcement powers.
The names of all 72 officers killed on 9/11 can be found on the Memorial Fund’s Web site at www.LawMemorial.org/911RollCall. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial contains the names of 19,298 officers who have died in the line of duty throughout U.S. history.