A COP'S Funeral

It's something in the back of the head of every cop as they go through the day.  Will this be me at some point in the future.  Will I not make it to the great pension I was promised.

I sit here in Champion Forest Baptist Church and they have started the pictures.  There are two massive screens on which they are showing pictures of Officer Will through his life.  Depressing is they just put up the ultrasound of his son, Kevin Scott Will Jr.  If it takes a while for the two to meet I know his dad is looking down with pride.

Two things stuck me over the service.  One, the Houston PD chaplain said he was an actual hero.  The last thing he did before being hit by the suspect was push a hit and run complainant out of the way, saving the man's life.  The other thing that struck me was what Will's mother said of her son, "he finished strong..."

I recall the words of General Patton on men like this, "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

The service took a little over a hour then around another half hour to get the officers organized. The troopers, officers, constables move out, form up and the casket is brought forth.  Headed out I hit the men's room and as expected there is a line.  Now waiting I see two gentlemen in suits pass everyone and hit the facilities quick...then it hit me.  They were family members.  As I was leaving I saw  Officer Will's son being escorted by one of the ministers.  Yes I think he needs to get up there in front of us.

Fly Over Missing Man Formation

We give one last salute, then a 21 gun salute (still kinda weird with shotguns instead of rifles), the flyover with the helos.  After that the flag is handed over to the next of kin.  A loud speaker calls out his unit numbers three times, then announces he is "Off duty...badge number 7597 is retired..."

The Chief of Police handing the flag over...one duty I  would not wish on my worse enemy.

RIP Officer Will...and God be with your family at this time.