'People will remember': York road sign honors Charles Black, trooper killed in line of duty

YORK, Maine — Family, friends and first responders honored fallen Maine State Police Trooper Charles C. Black on Wednesday, Sept. 15, nearly six decades after his death in the line of duty.

They gathered to place a memorial sign on the northbound side of U.S. Route 1 near the intersection with Animal Park Road in York, as part of a larger effort to honor 12 fallen troopers on roadways throughout the state.  

The sign honoring Black was one of two unveiled on Wednesday. The other one, placed in Thomaston, honors Trooper James A. "Drew" Griffith, who was killed in 1996 when a vehicle struck his cruiser in Warren. The remaining 10 signs will be unveiled throughout the fall. 

Dedicated roadways will be marked with memorial signs in both directions and will be located as close as possible to the patrol area of the fallen officer.

"I'm going to smile every time I drive by it," said Trooper Black's youngest son, Charlie Black, at the unveiling.

Charlie Black was born three weeks after his dad's death, according to his mother, Mary Black Andrews, who was also present at the ceremony.

"Now, we have a demonstration with his name on it, and people will see it and remember the sacrifice that he gave," Andrews said.

Back in June, Gov. Janet Mills signed into a law a bill sponsored by Sen. Bill Diamond that dedicates one mile of Maine’s secondary roadways to each trooper who dies or has died in the line of duty. That currently includes 12 troopers in the MSP's 100-year history.

'We will never forget their sacrifice'

Trooper Charles C. Black was shot and killed n July 9, 1964, when he raced over from the courthouse to try to stop a bank robbery in progress in South Berwick. He was 28 years old and left behind his wife, Mary, who was 27 at time with two small children and another on the way.

“Our hope is the dedication of these road segments and the memorial markers will serve as reminders to honor our fallen heroes who gave everything they had in service to others.” said Maine State Police Col. John Cote. “These markers are part of the commitment to our fallen and their surviving families that as an agency and a state, we will never forget their sacrifice.”

Maine's law came after former state trooper and current President of the Maine Retired Troopers Organization Timothy Culbert received photos of memorial signs in Florida.

"I thought ... we've got to get these up in Maine, why don't we have that here?" Culbert said. 

Culbert said the project is particularly special and hits close to home, given that one of the honored troopers, Detective Giles Landry, had been his interstate partner for 10 years.

Culbert said he worked with Diamond, the Maine Department of Transportation and Maine State Police to make this happen.

Living relatives haven't been found for three of the oldest troopers who were killed —Patrolman Emery Gooch, Patrolman Fred Foster and Trooper Frank Wing — so his mission is to find them before an unveiling ceremony occurs, Culbert said.