Latest / Heroes Behind the Badge / The Healing Power of Police Week: A Family's Journey After Line-of-Duty Death

Transcript

The Healing Power of Police Week: A Family's Journey After Line-of-Duty Death · Heroes Behind the Badge

• 0:13
  Hello again.
• 0:14
  A warm welcome back to Heroes Behind the Badge, brought to you
• 0:17
  by Citizens Behind the Badge.
• 0:19
  I'm your host, Dennis Collins, joined by Bill Erth and Craig Floyd.
• 0:24
  In part one of our conversation with Les Vitale, we heard the devastating
• 0:28
  story of his brother Harold, a dedicated 14 year veteran of the Saugus
• 0:33
  Police Department, whose life was tragically cut short on June 18th.
• 0:37
  1985 when a 19-year-old suspect trapped his arm in a car window
• 0:42
  and dragged him to his death.
• 0:44
  We learned how the justice system failed the Vitali family when Harold's killer
• 0:49
  received only a manslaughter conviction and served less than 10 years in prison.
• 0:53
  But today, I. We're turning to a different chapter in their story.
• 0:58
  One of Healing Purpose and Legacy.
• 1:01
  Les is about to share how a powerful experience at National Police Week in
• 1:06
  Washington DC became the catalyst for an extraordinary family mission that
• 1:11
  has now spanned nearly four decades.
• 1:14
  You'll hear how the Vitali family has raised over a million dollars
• 1:18
  through their Memorial Foundation and supported countless families of
• 1:21
  fallen officers and also insured.
• 1:24
  That Harold's sacrifice and the sacrifices of other officers are never forgotten.
• 1:30
  This is a story about transforming grief into purpose and about what it
• 1:36
  truly means to live with Vitale pride.
• 1:39
  Let's rejoin our conversation with Les Vitale.
• 1:44
  Um, and let's talk about the good part of the story, though.
• 1:47
  It, it started maybe I'm thinking, 1986, uh, during National Police Week.
• 1:54
  Uh, I believe your family came to Washington, DC to honor the memory
• 1:59
  of Harold, to honor all the fallen officers that were being, uh, paid
• 2:03
  tribute to during National Police Week.
• 2:05
  Um, tell me about that.
• 2:07
  Was that, uh, maybe the seed that started you on this, uh, very positive
• 2:11
  journey that you've been on ever since?
• 2:13
  It was definitely the seed.
• 2:15
  Um, I can still recall landing in DC coming off the plane and we were told
• 2:24
  when we signed up, all 13 of us went.
• 2:27
  Uh, when we signed up, we get off the plane.
• 2:31
  What we did not expect at the airport was, uh, full dress,
• 2:36
  police uniforms formed a line from coming off the plane off the gate.
• 2:42
  To buses that were waiting for us because we were deer in the headlights.
• 2:45
  We had no idea we were gonna rent a car, but we kept being told by the
• 2:49
  concerns of police survivors group, which had reached out to us, just
• 2:53
  show up, get off the plane, and everything will be taken care of.
• 2:57
  We didn't really understand what that meant, and we're figuring
• 3:00
  we gotta go get luggage at the luggage, carousel, et cetera.
• 3:04
  They told us to go straight to the buses.
• 3:06
  We had an escort on each arm on both sides.
• 3:08
  My entire family.
• 3:10
  It was just, I still feel it right now.
• 3:13
  The, the, the emotion, the how impressed we were that somebody cared and it was
• 3:21
  like, angels came down and lifted us up by, by the arms and, you know, walked
• 3:24
  us out of the airport to the buses and they said, we have your luggage.
• 3:28
  Your luggage will follow you, and it'll be there in the hotel.
• 3:32
  When we got to the hotel and checked in, Susie Sawyer, executive director of
• 3:36
  concerns of police survivors was there and there was a lot of us, and we were
• 3:41
  the largest family, I guess, that had showed up at, AT registered to sign up.
• 3:45
  And when we walked in, we walked in as a group and I can still see it and feel it.
• 3:51
  The registration team was there and Susie Sawyer said, holy
• 3:54
  shit, that must be the vitalis.
• 3:56
  And we're like.
• 3:58
  We're looking around.
• 3:59
  Like what?
• 4:00
  So she came around the table, she hugged every one of us and she
• 4:04
  goes, oh my God, this is the Boston family and uh, welcome to dc.
• 4:09
  And, uh, we're like, what?
• 4:10
  She says, your registration's all set.
• 4:12
  The luggage came in.
• 4:14
  We had escorts to the, to the reception desk, up to our rooms.
• 4:18
  Everything was taken care of.
• 4:19
  They gave us an itinerary from that moment that week, everything.
• 4:25
  Everything was taken care of.
• 4:27
  Everywhere we went was special.
• 4:30
  And my brothers and I sat back and my sisters and were
• 4:34
  like, how does this happen?
• 4:36
  Like, the orchestration to pull this off is incredible.
• 4:40
  And then we were so moved by it as we sat around and we, we, we went to
• 4:46
  the, the vigil and the, and placing the, the, the rows and the shield
• 4:50
  and, you know, we lived through all that, that emotion and trauma.
• 4:55
  Every time we had a time, a chance to sit back and talk as a family
• 4:58
  about what we were going through.
• 5:00
  We talked about organizations like this.
• 5:04
  People need to understand are so valuable to a person who's a
• 5:08
  victim or a survivor of anything.
• 5:11
  And you, you know, whether it's people struggl with cancer or people
• 5:15
  you know, suffer the loss of a loved one from a murder or whatever,
• 5:19
  you know, who's gonna pick you up?
• 5:21
  Who's gonna show you the way, because you're really not capable at that point,
• 5:25
  mentally and emotionally of doing it.
• 5:28
  That experience, after we get back, we sat around and we talked about
• 5:33
  we need to do something to give back and we should do it in Harold's name.
• 5:38
  My sister, Laura Eileen was part of the inspiration of that so difficult for
• 5:44
  her with her kids, her young kids there, and we talked to her constantly about
• 5:49
  how is she doing and what did she want.
• 5:50
  I. And it was clear to us, crystal clear that we could do something.
• 5:58
  We could turn this around and take something so negative and
• 6:01
  try to do something somewhat positive as a source of healing.
• 6:06
  I. Whether we started to just brainstorm it and when we went
• 6:08
  back, we talked to friends back home and friends had suggested to
• 6:12
  us different things we could do.
• 6:13
  Well, wow, why don't you run a road race?
• 6:15
  Why don't you do all these things?
• 6:17
  They were like, well, wait a minute.
• 6:18
  We're the victims.
• 6:19
  We're the family.
• 6:20
  And that's, that's a lot of work.
• 6:22
  But it didn't take us long to figure out that the work was worth the
• 6:27
  effort, that if we didn't do the work, it sort of occurred to us that.
• 6:34
  Nobody else might do the work and that, how do we always remember Harold
• 6:38
  and make sure he is never forgotten?
• 6:40
  We have to take some of the responsibility for that.
• 6:43
  And we created as, as, as Greg knows he's been involved with this, we
• 6:48
  decided to create a. We ran a road race and then that was successful.
• 6:52
  And then we ran a golf tournament because my sister, Laura Eileen, had
• 6:55
  participated in one as a volunteer for another line of duty death.
• 6:59
  And she was so impressed by what they did that they raised money and then they gave
• 7:03
  the money back to people that needed it.
• 7:06
  So we just thought maybe we could do this too.
• 7:09
  And that's where the idea, the inspiration was born.
• 7:12
  And then lo and behold, the town stepped up and decided they were
• 7:15
  going to build a memorial to Harold, which Craig you were a part of.
• 7:20
  That when that happened, we, we sat back as a family and
• 7:23
  we just said, you know what?
• 7:25
  We did the right thing.
• 7:26
  We, we can never forget.
• 7:28
  From this point forward, we will do everything we can every year as
• 7:33
  anniversary to never, ever forget.
• 7:37
  So Les, I just wanna jump in and kind of revisit what you just
• 7:41
  said about, you know, arriving at Reagan International Airport.
• 7:46
  There, there is a literal, literal sea of cops, and they're
• 7:52
  all in their dress uniforms.
• 7:55
  They're standing at the gate as you exit the plane.
• 8:00
  They just lined the airport and when you go outside, there is bus, after
• 8:07
  bus, after bus, and there's thousands, I don't know about thousands, but
• 8:12
  there's hundreds, thousands of motorcycle cops and maybe thousands.
• 8:16
  It's just.
• 8:17
  Endless as far as the eye can see are motorcycle cops, and you all get
• 8:24
  on these buses and the motorcycle cops escort you to the hotels.
• 8:31
  It's one of the most awe inspiring and inspirational things that
• 8:38
  I've ever been a part of.
• 8:41
  We were doing a documentary film called Heroes Behind the Badge that followed some
• 8:46
  of these families and we followed them off the airplane and, and they experienced
• 8:51
  precisely what you were just discussing.
• 8:54
  And then it goes to all of the events at, uh, the National Law Enforcement
• 8:59
  Memorial, and all of the things that Craig and his team at the Memorial did.
• 9:06
  And.
• 9:08
  I, you know, I wanna ask you this question.
• 9:10
  It was up until that point in time, and maybe even since then, has
• 9:15
  there ever been something that just absolutely blew you away like that?
• 9:23
  Never, yeah.
• 9:24
  It's just incredible.
• 9:26
  Never.
• 9:27
  Watching the, the World Trade Center, watching the rally of the American
• 9:33
  people and the first responders.
• 9:37
  Um, was police week on steroids it to, to watch how
• 9:46
  people came from everywhere, uniformed officers, police, fire that were alive to
• 9:55
  reach out to the people, to the victims, to the families to try to find a way to.
• 10:02
  Provide some, provide some counseling, some courage, a shoulder to lean on.
• 10:07
  It's the most powerful, the most powerful thing that I've ever
• 10:11
  experienced in, in, in my life.
• 10:13
  I, it is just, it.
• 10:14
  It's like yesterday I walked off that plane and.
• 10:16
  I still can see my sister-in-law ahead of us with her young kids
• 10:20
  in tow, and I've got my, I have a young daughter at the time who was,
• 10:25
  who was a baby, she's an infant.
• 10:26
  So we have a carriage and you know, there we are, there's 13 of us
• 10:31
  and they had us all figured out.
• 10:33
  It's like, how did they know we get off the plane that it was us and who we were.
• 10:38
  It wasn't a chartered plane with all kinds of survivors on it.
• 10:42
  It was a plane out of Boston, Logan International Airport, that
• 10:45
  somehow they figured out we were the ones and what flight it was
• 10:49
  and they were gonna be there.
• 10:51
  And it was amazing.
• 10:52
  As we're walking through other people from other parts of the country coming
• 10:56
  off on different airlines coming out, and that wall right through Reagan, all
• 11:02
  the way out to the sidewalk was a, was a, was a wall of safety and security.
• 11:07
  We felt like.
• 11:09
  There were loving arms around us all.
• 11:11
  It was just, it was just indescribable.
• 11:14
  Yeah.
• 11:14
  It's just, uh, so awe inspiring and amazing.
• 11:18
  And, and Craig knows this story and, and as much as it touched and, and
• 11:24
  changed you by experiencing that.
• 11:28
  I, I had gotten to a point in my law enforcement career where I
• 11:31
  was just completely burnt out.
• 11:33
  I was done.
• 11:34
  I, I hated everything.
• 11:36
  I hated the job.
• 11:37
  My whole mentality was wrong.
• 11:40
  And I went to the memorial for the first time during police week, and
• 11:43
  I was just so touched and so in awe.
• 11:50
  Of, of what went on and you've got 30, 40,000 cops from all over the
• 11:55
  United States and, and everybody, the honor and the, the memorial, the
• 12:00
  memories and, and it was just, that changed my whole career after that.
• 12:04
  It was just amazing.
• 12:06
  I remember you told me Bill, uh, once that, you know, when you went to
• 12:10
  Washington, uh, and were surrounded by tens of thousands of other law
• 12:15
  enforcement professionals and, and met the surviving family members
• 12:18
  of the Fallen I. You, you said it reminded you of why you became a cop.
• 12:23
  Uh, these are the best of the best in the profession.
• 12:26
  Uh, the people that care enough every year to come to Washington DC to
• 12:30
  be part of National Police Week, to show their support for the surviving
• 12:34
  family members and colleagues of officers killed in the line of duty.
• 12:38
  And I've never forgotten that.
• 12:40
  I mean, I, I realized when you sat down and told me that here you are
• 12:44
  a, a grizzled old cop, that that's tougher than, than most, and.
• 12:48
  You had a softer side, uh, when you came to police week, you realized that
• 12:53
  this is why I became a police officer.
• 12:55
  And it helped you because we've had other interviews on this podcast where
• 12:59
  people have told us about the traumatic events that every officer goes through
• 13:04
  in their careers and how it hardens them and, and makes them, uh, in a
• 13:09
  sense uncaring, um, and unempathetic.
• 13:13
  Uh.
• 13:14
  Right, because they can't appreciate, you know, uh, a feeling for others
• 13:18
  at that moment in time because of all the, the terrible things they've,
• 13:21
  uh, experienced in their career.
• 13:24
  So police Week does make a difference for the family.
• 13:27
  As well as for the officers and I, I would encourage any officer, any family member
• 13:31
  of the fallen, any citizen supporter.
• 13:34
  If you've never been to Washington DC for National Police Week, you need
• 13:39
  to go at least once and experience it because it's gonna have a
• 13:43
  positive impact on you and your life.
• 13:46
  Um, and Les, um.
• 13:49
  Every year, I, I, this past, uh, August, I attended your golf tournament that you
• 13:55
  put on every year to help raise money for concerns of police survivors for the
• 14:00
  National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, even for Citizens behind the Badge.
• 14:04
  You've been very generous to us as well.
• 14:07
  Um, and this was the 30th year.
• 14:09
  That golf tournament, uh, uh, went on and you all had, I don't know how many
• 14:16
  dozens of surviving family members there, not just of Harold Vitali, but
• 14:21
  of, uh, eight or nine other fallen heroes that you honor each year.
• 14:26
  It's always different.
• 14:27
  Unfortunately, there seems to always be a, a local death or two, uh, that you
• 14:32
  will bring their families to your event to let them know that, um, you care
• 14:36
  about them and that we'll never forget.
• 14:39
  Um, tell us about that, uh, experience.
• 14:41
  Um, Johnny Castro was there this year, a Philadelphia officer who actually
• 14:46
  did a portrait of Harold and many other officers, and I think we have
• 14:50
  a copy of that, that we'll, we'll show with this podcast, but tell me
• 14:53
  what that golf tournament has met and being able to bring these other
• 14:56
  surviving family members together.
• 14:59
  Yeah, sure.
• 15:00
  It, it, you know, I need to go back to the beginning and, and, you know, what
• 15:03
  was the inspiration and motivation to start, you know, I talked to a few of you.
• 15:08
  Folks before we started this interview, some of us are golfers, um, and
• 15:12
  several of my brothers are, but, um, you know, my sister-in-law had gone
• 15:16
  to a, uh, line of duty death memorial golf tournament as a volunteer.
• 15:21
  She was getting very involved with cops.
• 15:23
  She joined the, the Massachusetts chapter.
• 15:26
  She was on their board.
• 15:28
  Um, she stayed very connected to the national scene with Susie Sawyer and
• 15:32
  the team, and she started to see all these different events and activities.
• 15:36
  That she got involved with and she continued to stay involved
• 15:41
  with for quite some time.
• 15:43
  And I think she realized that those were a sense of source of healing for her.
• 15:48
  Um, and when she came back from one of the tournaments, she talked about what a great
• 15:52
  time that she had and we could see that she was happy, which is what we wanted.
• 15:57
  And she knew we were golfers and you know, she kind of ran up the flagpole and said.
• 16:03
  We've been thinking about doing things and giving back and helping out like
• 16:06
  Susie and concerns the police survivor.
• 16:08
  You know, you guys golf, what do you think about running a golf tournament?
• 16:12
  So we sat around and we said, you know what?
• 16:14
  We probably could do it.
• 16:16
  Um, so I think it was 1993 or four, we ended up, we did a
• 16:21
  road race for one or two years.
• 16:23
  Those were pretty good.
• 16:23
  We raised a few thousand bucks.
• 16:25
  We gave out scholarship money with it, and then we did the golf tournament.
• 16:29
  But we talked about.
• 16:31
  If we do this, why are we doing it?
• 16:33
  And what are we gonna do if we have any success with it?
• 16:36
  So we talked about, um, we wanted to be financially successful because
• 16:41
  we wanted to give back so other people could have the experience
• 16:46
  that we had because it takes money.
• 16:49
  It costs money.
• 16:50
  We, we thought about how, how much the cost and consequence of the
• 16:54
  undertaking the police week must be.
• 16:56
  How does all this happen?
• 16:58
  So if we could raise a few bucks and give it back as our
• 17:01
  thanks, then that would be great.
• 17:04
  So we launched it.
• 17:04
  We have a lot of buddies, a lot of friends.
• 17:06
  Uh, my brother Dick and I, as, as Craig knows, have been in a business
• 17:10
  successful business for a while.
• 17:12
  Uh, we had a lot of clients and once we pulled it together, they knew our story.
• 17:17
  They all signed on and said we'd love to help you out.
• 17:20
  And all of a sudden the golf tournament was born.
• 17:23
  So the first year we did it, you know, we didn't charge a lot
• 17:26
  of money and we were sold out.
• 17:28
  And then somehow, some way we raised a couple of bucks and we
• 17:32
  gave out a couple of scholarships, a couple of thousand dollars.
• 17:35
  So high school students, right?
• 17:38
  High school students.
• 17:39
  1992, 93 I think was the, the inaugural.
• 17:43
  And, uh, I think we gave out two, $250 scholarships with
• 17:47
  some of the net proceeds.
• 17:50
  The next year we did it, we probably doubled what we did, and after four or
• 17:54
  five years, we raised the scholarships to $500 and then we added a couple,
• 17:58
  we had a couple of primary schools, school, my brothers and I all, and
• 18:02
  my sisters all went to, and then a local school in the saga area.
• 18:06
  So we added schools.
• 18:08
  We added dollar value.
• 18:10
  In our history we've given out, um, I don't have the exact number,
• 18:14
  but it's close to 200 scholarships over all these years, totaling
• 18:18
  over $200,000 and the scholarships.
• 18:22
  Now, last year I think we gave out six scholarships of a thousand dollars each.
• 18:27
  Uh, some years it's been as money as seven, uh, probably no less than five.
• 18:32
  Uh, and then we turn around and we support.
• 18:37
  Concerns of police survivors.
• 18:38
  We can support the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial and other
• 18:42
  organizations that are for police.
• 18:45
  And the, the tournament has become a source of healing on it because
• 18:51
  you, as I say to people, you know, you, you, you never overcome this.
• 18:55
  I told you earlier, I'm telling you the story of June 18th,
• 18:58
  1985 like it was yesterday.
• 18:59
  It's that vivid.
• 19:01
  So you never forget that, but.
• 19:04
  How do you overcome it?
• 19:05
  How do you heal?
• 19:06
  How do you deal with the emotion?
• 19:08
  Doing something positive has been the source of that healing of that solution.
• 19:15
  So we've done an unbelievable job at the golf tournament to the point that
• 19:19
  we've raised well over a million dollars.
• 19:22
  We've given out God six or $700,000 over the years.
• 19:27
  I mean.
• 19:28
  You know, it, it, some of the things we do, we scratch our head and we say, how
• 19:31
  did we do this this long and this well.
• 19:35
  But we have a village of people that apparently thought about and cared
• 19:41
  about Vitale pride, which I know would make my brother Harold proud
• 19:45
  is that, you know, we, we wanted to carry on and, and do it with a sense
• 19:50
  of pride and a sense of purpose.
• 19:52
  And while we do it and we touch other people.
• 19:55
  It was at the golf tournament and Johnny Castro painted the portraits, and eight
• 19:59
  or nine other families came and we gave them portraits of their loved ones.
• 20:03
  What that feels like for my sister-in-law, for myself, for my brothers, feels
• 20:08
  so good to see the joy in their face.
• 20:11
  And we know that they hurt like we hurt, but you realize that they need it because
• 20:18
  nobody should forget their loved one.
• 20:19
  And that night in August.
• 20:21
  We get a chance to remember nine families in the room stood up and
• 20:25
  gave a standing ovation to every one of those surviving families.
• 20:29
  You know, I still get goosebumps when that happens.
• 20:32
  And it's just, it's a, it's an awesome thing.
• 20:34
  And every one of those families, usually when an officer goes down the line of
• 20:37
  duty, there's usually a memorial fund that's set up every time it happens.
• 20:42
  Our memorial fund makes a donation to the family, a private donation,
• 20:48
  and lets them know and understand.
• 20:50
  We stood in their shoes.
• 20:52
  We're here to help.
• 20:53
  Call us if you need us.
• 20:55
  And those people have become, from the Massachusetts area in
• 20:58
  particular, have become our friends and they attend the tournament.
• 21:02
  And it's just, it's gotten every now and then, we think it could
• 21:05
  have an end, a shelf life ending.
• 21:07
  It continues on and it is just, it's, it's mind blowing.
• 21:11
  I'll, um, I'm gonna turn things over to Bill, uh, for closing comments,
• 21:15
  but, uh, I'll share one last story.
• 21:18
  Um, Les and his family helped organize a run from Boston to Washington, DC when we
• 21:24
  were raising money to build the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, and
• 21:28
  we called it the East Coast Memorial Run.
• 21:31
  Uh, these were police officers, surviving family members of officers who died other.
• 21:36
  Supporters who basically one by one would run six, seven miles and then
• 21:42
  trade off to the next guy or gal and then they'd run and they ran 300 miles to
• 21:47
  Washington, DC and the other family, uh, that I'll never forget that was involved
• 21:52
  and that was, uh, the Griffith family.
• 21:55
  Uh, they were honoring their brother, Sherman Griffiths, who was killed in
• 21:58
  the line of duty in 1988 in a drug raid.
• 22:02
  Um, two tributes came about for those two fallen officers.
• 22:06
  They, they raised $60,000 to build the memorial during that run.
• 22:11
  But then, uh, about five years after Sherman Griffith's death, um, four
• 22:17
  of his brothers who were in other careers, uh, in the middle of their
• 22:20
  lives, uh, gave up their other careers and became Boston police officers
• 22:26
  so they could carry on the service.
• 22:28
  Uh, that Sherman, uh, was doing.
• 22:31
  And unfortunately, his service was cut short, so they wanted to carry
• 22:35
  on Sherman's service and, uh, that was one of the greatest tributes I've
• 22:40
  ever heard of for a fallen officer.
• 22:43
  I can't imagine a greater tribute.
• 22:46
  And then the Vitali family, uh, here we are.
• 22:50
  40 years after Harold's death, and we're still telling the story of Harold Vitali.
• 22:55
  Not just how he died, but how he lived, who he was in life, the people he touched.
• 23:00
  Um, and, and I think that's an incredible story, uh, an incredible
• 23:04
  tribute to a fallen hero.
• 23:06
  Uh, and that's why I was so pleased that, uh, you joined us here today Les to, uh,
• 23:11
  help us better understand who Harold was.
• 23:14
  And what you and your family have done to keep his memory alive.
• 23:17
  Uh, uh, I consider that to be a real hero behind the badge.
• 23:21
  And I thank you for joining us here today.
• 23:24
  Well, it's been an honor for me and I can't thank you enough for reaching
• 23:28
  out and giving me this opportunity.
• 23:30
  As I said before, it's uh, it's something that I never wanna forget.
• 23:35
  Um, Harold's, you know, I've got his portrait probably hanging,
• 23:40
  you know, he was 42 at the time.
• 23:41
  I was, uh, you know.
• 23:43
  10, 11 years younger and I was a deer in the headlights.
• 23:46
  And, um, you know, my big brother.
• 23:48
  And it's one of those things that as, as I learned how to talk about him, I, the
• 23:55
  sense of pride came out and I begin to welcome the opportunity to tell the story.
• 24:01
  So the story of Art Tous, you know, we've had, this has all of our
• 24:05
  paraphernalia, it's our logo, and people will look at it and say, what is that?
• 24:10
  And that's the cue.
• 24:12
  Um.
• 24:13
  I wear these shirts and these hats everywhere I go and it, it's
• 24:17
  amazing to me because a member that was on our golf committee
• 24:20
  board said, keep the logo simple.
• 24:23
  Just have it be a tourist.
• 24:24
  It had a police shield around it, and he said, you know, the, the statue
• 24:28
  is just spectacular, and you want people to kind of be struck by it
• 24:33
  and make them ask you what it is.
• 24:36
  That was the best advice we got in.
• 24:38
  Every time I wear one of these shirts and these hats, somebody would say
• 24:41
  to me, where is that golf course?
• 24:44
  Where is that and what is that?
• 24:46
  And, and then I get to tell the story.
• 24:49
  And, uh, I do it with a, a great sense of pride and by tally pride,
• 24:54
  and I know that every time I do it, I know that Harold's looking down and
• 24:57
  he's, he's pretty happy with what his kid, brothers and sisters all did.
• 25:03
  Les, one last thing.
• 25:04
  Would you, uh, share a website that people can, uh, check into your foundation?
• 25:10
  And, uh, thanks for sharing the story.
• 25:13
  Give that website and we're gonna let Dennis take this out.
• 25:17
  Absolutely.
• 25:18
  So it's, um, by telling memorial fund.org and, uh, that's, that's what it is.
• 25:26
  Short and sweet, pretty simple.
• 25:28
  And, uh.
• 25:30
  There's some pictures of some of the road races in the golf tournaments and
• 25:34
  certainly stories about my brother.
• 25:35
  And, uh, one other thing, I guess while, while we're at that, every
• 25:39
  year if we're honoring another officer officers, we don't update the website
• 25:45
  often, but every year there is, uh, a line of duty death that's local
• 25:50
  and near, near dear to our heart.
• 25:52
  We post that story on our website and we usually will make a
• 25:56
  donation or create a linkage.
• 25:58
  I. To that family's cause.
• 26:01
  So the Boston Marathon bombing being a case in point years ago, Sean
• 26:05
  Collier, the MIT officer who was killed, uh, during that bombing, Sean's
• 26:10
  family has been to our tournament.
• 26:11
  We've honored them and uh, we had, uh, a linkage on our site to their site.
• 26:18
  They have now gone on and created their own memorial fund doing
• 26:22
  an unbelievable, amazing job.
• 26:24
  And we've become friends with their family.
• 26:26
  So it's a. It's a community.
• 26:30
  We all say as survivors, you don't really want to be part of, but you'll
• 26:33
  never find a community of survivors stronger than law enforcement survivors
• 26:39
  or, or, or first responder survivors.
• 26:41
  They're just as tight as tight can be.
• 26:44
  And that's something that we're really proud of.
• 26:47
  And, uh, these folks deserve to be honored and remembered and never
• 26:50
  be forgotten, and we never will.
• 26:54
  Les, uh, what can I say that you haven't said?
• 26:57
  Uh, except Thank you.
• 26:59
  Uh, thank you for sharing this amazing story about your brother Harold.
• 27:03
  You and your family are truly vital, ally proud, vital ally, strong.
• 27:09
  You know, we rarely get to hear what happens to the families.
• 27:15
  Of line of duty deaths.
• 27:18
  We hear about the officer.
• 27:19
  Obviously we, we, the trials and all that, that gets a lot of publicity, but we
• 27:24
  don't hear what the family goes through.
• 27:26
  And I don't know that you could have done a better job of vividly describing, uh,
• 27:32
  from a family member's point of view.
• 27:35
  How it affects everybody.
• 27:37
  It's not just the officer and his immediate family.
• 27:40
  It's the entire family, and, and we rarely see the dedication
• 27:45
  that you and your family devote to the memory of your brother.
• 27:49
  Um, I'm sure he is proud of you.
• 27:51
  Uh, we are thankful and grateful to you to share this.
• 27:55
  It's not always easy, but you've given us insights that we couldn't have had.
• 27:59
  Because none of us have ever had this happen to us directly.
• 28:03
  Um, you've created, you and your family have created an amazing
• 28:07
  legacy, uh, to honor your hero Harold.
• 28:11
  So thanks to you and your family for bringing the story.
• 28:18
  Thank you for Heroes Behind the Badge.
• 28:21
  Everything you, you folks continue to do, uh, because it's gonna take
• 28:25
  a village and it takes H, you know, C, B, B, and it takes the National
• 28:30
  Law Enforcement memorial and it takes concerns of police survivors.
• 28:33
  It takes all of the organizations that rally and make sure
• 28:38
  that the world knows you.
• 28:40
  You should never forget and.
• 28:42
  Well, as you know, that's our mission.
• 28:44
  And we'll never forget, we'll never forget.
• 28:47
  Um, so this podcast that you've been listening to, I hope you liked it.
• 28:51
  It's brought to you by Citizens Behind the Badge that is the leading voice
• 28:56
  of the American people in support of the men and women of law enforcement.
• 29:00
  Now you might like to find out how you can join hundreds of thousands of Americans
• 29:05
  already supporting our law enforcement.
• 29:08
  Here's a quick and easy way.
• 29:10
  Citizens behind the badge.org, citizens behind the badge.org.
• 29:15
  Okay.
• 29:17
  Join the hundreds of thousands of people who are already involved.
• 29:21
  A story like we just heard from Les today should give you any
• 29:25
  number of reasons to get involved.
• 29:28
  So also, I gotta remind you, don't forget, hit follow, subscribe,
• 29:34
  or like us or all three.
• 29:36
  On whatever app you use to view this podcast, you'll be the first
• 29:40
  to know about our next new episodes.
• 29:43
  We'll be back soon with more stories on Heroes Behind the Badge.
• 29:48
  Stay tuned for new episodes coming soon.
• 29:51
  Heroes Behind the Badge.