Police Week: The FBI Remembers Its Fallen Heroes

Washington, D.C.—As part of National Police Week, the FBI held a Special Agent Memorial Service to honor the 54 FBI special agents killed in the line of duty. Attorney General Eric Holder, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, and former FBI Directors William H. Webster and Louis J. Freeh participated in the May 12th ceremony, marking the 30th year the ceremony has been held at FBI Headquarters. Hundreds of FBI employees attended the service to honor the sacrifices of the fallen special agents and their families. 

“Every May, when we join together in remembrance of our fallen heroes, we are reminded of the risks men and women of law enforcement face each and every day, and of the courage they must demonstrate in confronting those risks,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.

“We come together today because we have not forgotten the cost of freedom. We have not forgotten the sacrifices these men and women have made on our behalf, nor have we forgotten the sacrifices borne by the families and friends of those we have lost,” said Director Mueller. 

On August 9, 1979, three special agents were shot and killed in two separate incidents, thousands of miles apart.  In response, FBI Director William Webster held a memorial service at FBI Headquarters. One week later, a public memorial service was held in Washington, D.C., evoking a tremendous outpouring of sympathy and support. The following August, Director Webster formalized the tradition, and the first Special Agent Memorial Service was conducted at FBI Headquarters. It has been held every year since.

The names of the following special agents were read while their photos were displayed during the service:

	Edwin C. Shanahan 1898 - 1925		Paul E. Reynolds 1899 - 1929
	Raymond J. Caffrey 1902 - 1933		W. Carter Baum 1904 - 1934
	Samuel P. Cowley 1899 - 1934		Herman E. Hollis 1903 - 1934
	Nelson B. Klein 1898 - 1935		Wimberly W. Baker 1910 - 1937
	Truett E. Rowe 1904 - 1937		William R. Ramsey 1903 - 1938
	Hubert J. Treacy, Jr. 1913 - 1942		Joseph J. Brock 1908 - 1952
	John Brady Murphy 1917 - 1953		Richard Purcell Horan 1922 - 1957
	Terry R. Anderson 1924 - 1966		Douglas M. Price 1941 - 1968
	Anthony Palmisano 1942 - 1969		Edwin R. Woodriffe 1941 - 1969
	Gregory W. Spinelli 1949 - 1973		Jack R. Coler 1947 - 1975
	Ronald A. Williams 1947 - 1975		Johnnie L. Oliver 1944 - 1979
	Charles W. Elmore 1945 - 1979		Jared Robert Porter 1935 - 1979
	Robin L. Ahrens 1952 - 1985		Jerry L. Dove 1956 - 1986
	Benjamin P. Grogan 1933 - 1986		L. Douglas Abram 1942 - 1990
	John L. Bailey 1942 - 1990		Martha Dixon Martinez 1959 - 1994
	Michael John Miller 1953 - 1994		William Christian, Jr. 1946 - 1995
	Charles Leo Reed 1951 - 1996		Leonard W. Hatton 1956 - 2001
	Albert L. Ingle 1903 - 1931		Percy E. Foxworth 1906 - 1943
	Harold Dennis Haberfeld 1912 - 1943		Richard Blackstone Brown 1916 - 1943
	Trenwith S. Basford 1916 - 1977		Mark A. Kirkland 1944 - 1977
	Robert W. Conners 1946 - 1982		Charles L. Ellington 1946 - 1982
	Terry Burnett Hereford 1948 - 1982		Michael James Lynch 1947 - 1982
	James K. McAllister 1951 - 1986		Scott K. Carey 1952 - 1988
	Stanley Ronquest, Jr. 1939 - 1992		Paul A. LeVeille 1959 - 1999
	Robert R. Hardesty 1965 - 2005		Gregory J. Rahoi 1968 - 2006
	Barry Bush 1955-2007		Samuel Hicks 1974 - 2008
	Sang Jun 1972 - 2008		Paul Sorce 1964 - 2009

On April 5, 2007, Newark Special Agent Barry Bush was killed while trying to apprehend three individuals of a four-man bank robbery crew who were in the act of robbing the PNC Bank branch on Route 22 West in Readington, New Jersey. In the confusion, Agent Bush was accidentally and tragically shot by a fellow agent and died at the scene. A memorial stone was place at the site to remember Agent Bush.  Furthermore, the Newark Division renamed their headquarters office building as the “Barry Lee Bush Building” to honor their fallen agent.

On Monday, May 11, 2009, the ringleader of the bank robber crew, Francisco Herrera-Genao, was sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 110 years in prison for convictions related to the carrying and, in three instances, firing of a weapon during the commission of a string of bank robberies. Genao also received a consecutive 87-month term for conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and for four robberies and the attempted robbery during which Special Agent Bush was accidentally killed. One of the other bank robbers, Michael Cruz, plead guilty to the Readington robbery and another armed robbery preceding it. The other two defendants, Wilfredo Berrios and Efrain Lynn, are awaiting sentencing.

“The conviction and sentencing of these four defendants will never bring back our colleague and friend, FBI agent Barry Bush,” said Weysan Dun, Special Agent In Charge of the Newark Field Office. “But to see justice served in this matter is perhaps the most fitting way to honor him and the sacrifice both he and his family have made to keep the citizens of New Jersey and elsewhere safe. By anyone’s definition, Agent Bush is a hero.”

On Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 10:30 a.m., St. John’s Church (22 Mulberry Street, Newark, NJ) will be hosting the Newark Division Memorial Service for Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This service will be held in memory of all FBI agents who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of justice.  Media coverage of this service is permitted and encouraged.

For more details on the special agents who were killed in the performance of duty or as the result of an adversarial action, visit our website at www.fbi.gov. The website's history page contains a link to the Hall of Honor, which pays tribute to these heroic men and women.

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