SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Bend Police Department along with guest speakers including Mayor James Mueller, honored their fallen officers with a memorial today.
Today the "gone but not forgotten" promise kept as the community overflowed the seating area and stood surrounding the surviving family members and their "brothers above ground" who honored them with the lighting of the Memorial Flame, a three-volley salute, and a Blue Flower tribute. The playing of bagpipes marked the solemn occasion.
Cheif Ruszkowski spoke about the families left behind:
"They get to see and feel that they're still part of our family. They didn't choose this, they didn't want this, but we've taken them in as our own, because they lost one of theirs, who was one of ours as well."
During the ceremony, James Burns, SBPD Chaplain, said "How do you describe such a high price that somebody is willing to pay with their life for our community, for the fellow citizens of St. Joseph County, for the city of South Bend? Somebody was willing to die for others to be safe... There are 15 names on there, 15 fellow officers that didn't get to come home to their loved ones, I get to go home to my loved one. How is that fair to our survivors?"