National Police Week Memorial Service held in Wilson County Monday, May 11 

Dozens of law enforcement officers, friends and family turned out today to honor and pay their respects to fallen officers in Wilson County today as part of the National Police Week Memorial Service.

The service, sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police, recognized all fallen law enforcement in Wilson County as well as across the nation.  The event, held in the Courthouse adjacent the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office included remarks and reading of the Wilson County law enforcement fallen officers’ names by most Wilson County Law Enforcement agencies including Sheriff Robert Bryan, Mt. Juliet Police Chief James Hambrick and Interim Lebanon Police Chief Michael Vanhook and others.

The program began with a presentation of colors by the Lebanon and Mt. Juliet Police Department Honor Guards, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. Lebanon Police Detective David Willmore, president of the Wilson County Lodge #71 began by thanking those who attended and expressed his condolences for those who have been died in the line of duty as law enforcement.

As Lebanon Police Officer Kevin Ragland, president of Lebanon FOP Lodge #83, noted in his remarks, “This is a week we remember our own.” He noted that all law enforcement officers and organizations such as the FOP and PBA are all “a brotherhood.”

WCSO Chaplain Don Willis spoke on behalf of PBA President James Lanier, who was unable to attend, noting that the numbers of officers dying by violence and unrest within communities has grown in particularly this year. “We are praying we reach a balance between individuals’ rights to liberties and the officers’ rights to go home each night and see their families,” Chaplain Willis said. “Forty-four will not be going home to see their families.”

Chaplain Willis offered a prayer of protection for all law enforcement officers as they perform their duties each day. Department heads then had the official reading of names of law enforcement who have been killed or died in the line of duty.

Among those memorialized are:

Mt. Juliet Sgt. Jerry Mundy; Wilson County Sheriff’s Deputy John Musice; Wilson County Sgt. Wiley Williams; Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Oscar Morris; Wilson County Sheriff Harold Griffin; Constable Ben Northern; Wilson County Deputy Millard Brown; Wilson County Deputy John Oakley; and Lebanon Police Chief Robert Nolen.