September 13, 2015 dawned cloudy and rainy and for a while we thought it was going to rain on our memorial dedication. That was before I talked to Dee Braddock and she waved her arms and said rain go away and before you knew it the clouds started to break up and the sun came out so we knew then the Big Man upstairs was going to give us his blessing for a nice affair
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So they began setting up chairs for all of our guests and with the program that Bob Braddock had worked so hard on over the past several months we were ready to roll. It was nice to see old friends again after we just had our reunion a couple of weeks earlier.

Our past member/driver Father Tom came down from his parish in Baden to bless the monument and we thank him so much for the blessing. There was plenty of hand shaking with the guests who had started to arrive and it was also nice of Congressman Steny Hoyer to come down and be with us. He offered some very kind words to everyone about just what the fire and ems volunteers mean to their communities and it was well received. There were also some of our local politicians Maryland State Delegate 29C Anthony O’Donnell, County Commissioner Mike Hewitt, and I don’t want to be remiss and leave off any of our Fire Service brothers and sisters and they were President George Hayden, Treasurer Philipp (Heavy) Ridgell of Southern Maryland Volunteer Firemen’s Association along with Donna Demarr President of the Ladies. We were also honored to have with us the President of the Maryland Firemen’s Association Darby Bird. Another honored guest was the Commanding Officer of Patuxent River Naval Air Station Captain Heidi Fleming. We do thank them for taking time from their busy schedules to attend this important event in the history of our department.

Another person I want to make sure we recognize was the fellow that played the bag pipes Mike Bowen. Those pipes will move you. I didn’t get the name of the gentleman who did the bugle and blew taps but he did an excellent job. So we invited all to come up and say a few remarks and then Bob Braddock read all the names on the memorial at which time our Chaplain Keith Fairfax rang the bell. You could hear a pin drop while the names were being read.

I was allowed to make a few remarks to give praise to all the members of the committee and give a talk about how we came to the point that we were at today. It took a lot of hours and many meetings to get to the final results and the committee can be very proud. After this everyone could smell the fried chicken smell coming from the hall so it was time for the final prayer then we all adjourned to enjoy a wonderful lunch by Rita B’s catering crew.

Firefighter Memorial Committee:
Chairman – Doug Medley
Vice Chairman – Bob Braddock
President Wayne Johnson
Deputy Chief Steve Stockwell
Captain Daniel Burroughs
Sgt. Daniel Martin
Sgt. Jermaine Sewell
Firefighter Lauren Johnson
Firefighter Rick Montrose