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By Payton Towns III – The Union-Recorder

With a deputy playing bagpipes and a light rain falling, wreaths were laid on the graves of two Baldwin County law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

As part of Police Memorial Day, law enforcement officers and members of the community met Thursday morning at Memory Hill Cemetery to remember William Robinson IV, a Baldwin County sheriff’s deputy killed Dec. 17, 1995, and Charles N. Haygood, a deputy marshal killed Feb. 27, 1886.

“I’ve buried a lot of my friends and this is special for a small community like this,” said Sheriff Bill Massee, who pointed out that Robinson’s parents, Marcia and Ed Robinson, were in attendance.

“Over the last few years, I’ve really watched us try to support this family,” he said. “We’ve had good community support and we’ve had a real good feeling toward law enforcement in Milledgeville and Baldwin County. I thank everybody for coming today. For the people here that do carry a badge and a gun, I pray for your safety, for your family and for your safety. … I’m very pleased with the turnout, especially the number of officers who came out to support their profession and comrades killed in the line of duty.”

MPD Chief Woodrow Blue Jr. said May 15 is an important day to remember those officers who have been killed in the line of duty.

“This a day that has been set aside for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “To reflect on some of the things that I wanted to say today, I thought about the reason I wanted to be an officer, which is the sense of honor and duty and also pride in my community where I could give something back.

“I believed that if we were to ask the two we are honoring today… they would be able to tell you that they had a sense of duty and they wanted to give back to the community in which they lived.” he added. “To sum it up, I’d like to quote from the Bible: ‘No greater love than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.’”

The MPD Honor Guard and Miller Brown of the BCSO marched to Robinson’s and Haygood’s grave as people followed. While a member of the Honor Guard put the wreath in front of the graves, Brown played “Amazing Grace” on his bagpipes.

The ceremony ended with the Honor Guard doing a 21-gun salute, followed by “Taps” played by MPD Explorer Lt. Paul Bernichon.

Ed Robinson said the ceremony was nice for his family.

“It was beautiful,” he said. “This is really special because William’s friends and co-workers haven’t forgotten him and have kept his memory alive. That touches us the most.”

Mark Bell III, MPD chief of detectives, said he was pleased with the ceremony.

“It was wonderful,” he said. “Det. John Davis and the whole Honor Guard did a wonderful job.”

Bell, along with other representatives of the MPD, returned late Wednesday from the ceremony held Tuesday at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. They represented the department as Haygood’s name was read along with 377 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Haygood was one of 10 from Georgia recognized.

“It was very moving,” Bell said. “I’m very pleased we did that.”

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a law that named May 15 of every year as Peace Officers’ Memorial Day.

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