Over 300 members of the RCMP were honoured at an event in St. John’s yesterday morning.
The annual Memory Garden Service honours those who served with the RCMP and its support services who have since passed away.
Former civilian member of the force and event organizer Helen Escott says the ceremony pays tribute not only to those who died in the line of duty, but also to those who passed away from illness, natural causes, or suicide.
A plaque to remember those RCMP officers who were lost to suicide (VOCM News).
She says this year, they also unveiled a new addition to the garden to honour the Newfoundland Rangers.
“It is very emotional. I was here one day and this lady came up with her daughter and was looking for a name. And I found the name and I said, ‘who is this person to you?’ And she said, ‘that’s my mother. She served down in the Burin Peninsula for 35 years with the RCMP in the detachment as a public service employee,'” Escott told VOCM News.
The Newfoundland Rangers plaque in the RCMP Memory Garden (VOCM News).
“And she said she was so proud to work for the RCMP. And if she had to know that her name was going to be included in this garden, she would have been so overwhelmed with pride.”
