# 14th Annual Wreathlaying Day



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*14th Annual Wreathlaying Day Commemorates Dedication of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial*
"On a warm, sunny October afternoon 14 years ago, our Nation dedicated this majestic monument honoring the extraordinary service and sacrifice of America's law enforcement officers." With that statement, NLEOMF Chairman Craig W. Floyd opened the official commemoration of Wreathlaying Day on October 17. Wreathlaying Day is an annual event celebrating the 1991 establishment of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.









Craig Floyd opens Wreathlaying Day ceremonies
_Photo by Carrie Devorah_Following introductory remarks by Chairman Floyd, Chief Richard S. Keevill of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency - the Pentagon Police - delivered the keynote address. During his remarks, Chief Keevill noted that although the Pentagon police did not lose any officers in the 9-11 terrorist attack, one of his officers - James Feltis III - died in January, 2005 after being struck by a carjacked vehicle.

Reflecting on his department's first line of duty fatality, Chief Keevill said: "To have survived the horrible events of September 11th, then on a clear, crisp January morning to have an officer struck down and killed in the line of duty, brought us to the most painful reality of our profession&#8230;a line of duty death. Now, like many other police agencies who have suffered through the loss of one of their own, the Pentagon Police Department is more than cognizant of the dangers we face every day as police officers."









Shirley Gibson, National President of COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) of Chief Richard Keevill (United States Pentagon Police Department) honor the memory of all fallen officers by presenting the ceremonial wreath.Shirley Gibson, National President of COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors), and mother of slain MPDC Officer Brian Gibson, paid a moving tribute to the more than 17,000 officers whose names are permanently engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

"Let us all feel reassured that like the powerful lions that protect this Memorial, the men and women whose names are inscribed here, protect all of us, for they are eternally on watch in death, even though their watch has ended here on earth."

View photos from the ceremony and read complete remarks here.


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