Memorial honors Montgomery County’s fallen

Max Smith, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Friends, family and colleagues of the 30 Montgomery County public safety officers who have died in the line of duty gathered Friday to dedicate a new memorial.

“I would ask you to remember who these committed and dedicated persons were, and what their life meant. We the family and friends always will,” says Fran Daly, whose husband, police Capt. James Daly Jr., was shot and killed in 1976. She spoke at the ceremony on behalf of all the families.

The memorial commemorates the lives of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving in one of the county’s five public safety agencies. Friday’s ceremony included a salute fired from across the lake, a bugler, and a flyover from a Park Service helicopter, along with remarks by various elected leaders and the head of the committee responsible for raising much of the money needed to build the memorial.

The memorial has five granite stones arranged in a star-like pattern, encircled by the words “and if in duty I my life must give, grant that by the giving others live.”

It’s located next to a lake in Gaithersburg near the new Public Safety Headquarters, where agencies are expected to move next month.

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(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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