'An obligation to remember'

Clouds kept moving across the sun, taking away the warmth of spring momentarily and sending a chill across the crowd.

Capt. Larry Rollins read each name solemnly.

A lawnmower whirred in the neighborhood. A tractor-trailer rig worked through the gears as it headed out of Redkey on its way toward Portland.

With each name, a handful of dates: The day the trooper was officially appointed to the Indiana State Police, the day he or she was assigned to a post, a date of death.

The assembled officers stood silently in formation, while their family members and relatives of those on the list of fallen troopers listened attentively.

After each name, First Sergeant Andy Fisher read brief details of how each trooper fell. Some were shot by hoodlums, many died in traffic, but each fell in the line of duty.

The ceremony, Capt. Rollins said, was “the reverent acknowledgment of our obligation to remember them.”

And then the list — a list far too long — was done. “Taps” echoed across the spring morning, the notes rising like birds into the air. And the sun reappeared from behind the clouds. — J.R.

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