‘Blessed are the peacekeepers’: Savannah community honors fallen police officers

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – The Savannah Police Department hosted its annual Police Memorial ceremony on Wednesday.

It was an emotional moment for many who were in attendance. Some were family members and others stood beside those men and women in the line of duty.

“I always get emotional because the law enforcement has been our family for a long time,” Susan Durrence said.

Susan and her daughter, Addison, were among the family members who participated in the rose-laying tradition. They honored Susan’s brother, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Lee Deloach.

His name is one of 60 fallen law enforcement officers from the city, county and state, read aloud as roses were placed at the foot of the Police Memorial in downtown Savannah.

“It’s kind of hard to put in words,” Susan said. “I think once you do wear the badge and everything, you just want to take care of everybody that is around you and make sure that everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s just important to me that everybody lives up to that same standard.”

Chatham County Police Department Chief Jeff Hadley spoke about how difficult it is to be the loved one of an officer. He says now, there is live video of protests and crime that can be easily available through technology.

Those family members have to watch and look for their first responder in the crowd.

“They’re sitting there watching, especially if there’s a little child at home,” Hadley said. “I just had this vision of this little child running up to the TV screen and pointing, ‘Mommy, mommy, look, there’s mommy!’ and the father comforting that child, saying ‘Mommy’s doing her job, and she’s going to come home later.’ But maybe, perhaps, pausing and going, well, I hope so. But how do you you know?”

He said there is always a little fear in his heart for his staff, but they understood their duty when they put on this uniform every day.

“Those are some of the things that we don’t often talk about in law enforcement, the impacts that not only has on the officers personally, but their extended family and their friends,” the chief said.

The memorial, located on the corner of Oglethorpe Avenue and Habersham Street, currently has 59 names listed on it, but one more is being added for Benjamin Douglas Herron, an SPD officer who died in 2023.

Below is the full list of officers on the memorial:

1866 Edward McNichols, Savannah PD

1866 James Foley, Savannah PD

1868 Robert E. Read, Savannah PD

1868 Samuel Bryson, Savannah PD

1869 John D. Sullivan, Savannah PD

1881 Habersham W. Harvey, Savannah PD

1888 Patrick McMurray, Savannah PD

1894 J. C. Neve, Savannah PD

1901 Harry B. Fender, Savannah PD

1904 E. O. Zipperer, Savannah PD

1906 Patrick Kearney, Savannah PD

1910 Frank V. Hansen, Savannah PD

1916 James McGinley, Savannah PD

1918 William R. Mitchell, Chatham County PD

1920 Harry Miller, Savannah PD

1921 Walter H. Marlow, Savannah PD

1922 Phillip D. Steeves, Savannah PD

1924 William F. Hodges, Savannah PD

1926 William C. Ellzey, Savannah PD

1926 Albert Lamb, Savannah PD

1928 O. Raymond Hughes, Savannah PD

1929 Samuel Webb, Savannah PD

1929 W. Frank Godbold, Chatham County PD

1929 Herbert V. Fitzgerald, Savannah PD

1932 Robert B. Rayper, Savannah PD

1934 William S. Winn, Chatham County PD

1934 James E. Roughen, Savannah PD

1934 Perry L. Anderson, Chatham County PD

1939 John J. O’Reilly, Chatham County PD

1941 Earl W. Eubanks, Savannah PD

1942 Sidney Scott, Chatham County PD

1951 William M. Sheppard, Chatham County PD

1952 James W. Todd, Savannah PD

1960 H. Dan Rolison, Savannah PD

1962 Harry H. Akins, Chatham County PD

1963 David A. McCutchen, Sr, Savannah Beach PD

1966 Jimmy L. Bland, Savannah PD

1968 Frank W. Mobley, Savannah PD

1969 Robert D. Watford, Savannah PD

1969 Dennis E. Witherington, Chatham County PD

1975 George Singleton, United States Customs

1976 Daniel A. Hodgson, Chatham County PD

1976 Jim Marchbanks, Savannah PD

1979 Frank A. Kania, Chatham County PD

1980 William S. Howard, Savannah PD

1980 Leonard Adelman, Savannah PD

1981 John J. Brown, Savannah PD

1983 Frank Ellerbee, Georgia Bureau of Investigation

1984 Ronald E. O’Neal, Georgia State Patrol

1988 Doreen E. McCumber, Chatham County PD

1989 Mark A. MacPhail, Sr., Savannah PD

1993 Lee DeLoach Georgia Bureau of Investigation

1994 Willie S. Smith, Savannah PD

1999 Clyde “Trey” Alley III, Tybee Island PD

2015 Richard Allen Hall, Chatham Co. Sheriff’s Office

2015 William M. Solomon, Georgia Ports Authority PD

2016 Patrick T. Carothers, U.S. Marshals Service

2018 Anthony Christie, Savannah PD

2019 Kelvin Ansari, Savannah PD

2023 Benjamin Douglas “Twin” Herron