By Morgan Ashley
NBC News
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Men who have paid the ultimate sacrifice are finally honored, years after their deaths. The Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial held a ceremony on Friday for those who lost their lives while in the line of duty at the prison.
Officer Herbert Briggs died in 1934, Lieutenant Roger Sanders in 1978 and Sergeant William Cross passed away in 1979. An officer in Seattle found out the guards never received a formal ceremony from fellow officers. An organization called, “Behind the Badge” and the Washington State Attorney General’s office helped make the memorial happen.
Guards in the prison and even some inmates hand made memory boxes for the families, with the Washington State seal on the bottom glass. Assistant Secretary of Prisons for the Department of Corrections told NBC Right Now every day these men and women go to work inside the prison walls, they put themselves at risk. “The heroic acts that they do are often recognized internally, but not always externally. I hope that people take away that they are heroes, they walked through those doors and did their job every day,” explained Steven Sinclair.
Law enforcement from all over Washington and Oregon came to the ceremony that took a couple months to plan.
NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |
Full story: Three Fallen Prison Guards Honored for Their Service in Walla Walla