Memorializing America's `domestic soldiers'

VFW Magazine, May, 2002 by Richard Kolb, Shannon Hanson

National Peace Officers Memorial Day is commemorated May 15. This year, 478 officers' names will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. Some 226 were killed in the line of duty in 2001. Some of the remainder died as long ago as the 1800s. This will bring the grand total to 15,925 officers.

Their deaths date back to that of Deputy Sheriff Isaac Smith, shot to death on May 17, 1792, in New York City. As a tribute to all their sacrifices, VFW magazine offers this symbolic memorial listing of the deadliest incidents in American law enforcement history.