Virginia State Police held a memorial service last week to honor public safety professionals who have lost their lives in service.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the May 25 program was the first memorial service held since 2019.
It included tributes to the 66 members of the State Police who died in the line of duty. Special tribute was given to nine members for whom 2021 and 2022 marked a significant milestone, including Trooper Chad P. Dermyer of Gloucester.
He was shot and killed March 31, 2016 while participating in a training operation at a bus station in Richmond. Dermyer had approached a male subject and verbally engaged with the individual when the male subject began shooting at the trooper.
Each tribute included a single bell toll and honor guard salute, a release said.
The Roll of Honor also includes two state troopers, Robert Edward Porter and Joseph Benjamin Thomas, who lost their lives on June 20, 1950, when their plane crashed near Allmonds Wharf in Gloucester while on a st...