Forgotten Fayetteville Officers to be Memorialized

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of two Fayetteville Police Officers, the names of six other officers killed in the line of duty as far back as 1907 will be added as well.

Fayetteville Police Officers William DuBois and Lt. Kenneth Wiseman are digging up our tragic past. The two Fayetteville police officers have searched more than 100 years of old newspapers. They're looking for long forgotten Fayetteville police officers killed in the line of duty.

Officer DuBois says it was something he had to do.

Listen toauorReal Audiofile."It needed to be taken care of. These officers that are listed gave the ultimate sacrifice for the community of Fayetteville. Because of them we slept better at night. Because of their families that supported them, things went smoother in the community. They gave the ultimate sacrifice and we felt it was our duty to have them recognized."Officers DuBois and Wiseman discovered the names of eight Fayetteville police officers that were killed in the line of duty, but never memorialized on the National Police Memorial.

Listen toauorReal Audiofile."We were actually just going through papers and reading headlines and looking to see what was there to see if we had Missed anybody. Then we just started going from there."And the pair found incredible stories of fallen heroes that read like a Hollywood script. Officer Wiseman says take the case of Police Chief Benton.

Listen toauorReal Audiofile."Here's a guy... he's home eating lunch and gets shot and staggers into his house and dies in his wife's arms, and his 16 year old son grabs his gun and chases the guy who shoots him. Shoots the bad guy in the leg and he still gets away and they catch him later."The headlines from long ago have been forgotten by the people of Fayetteville. But DuBois and Wiseman are dedicated to making sure the names of the fallen officers are not.

Listen toauorReal Audiofile.Officer Wiseman:"They can go to that wall, it doesn't matter if it's fifty years or 100 years from now. The name will be there and they can go in and read about them. Grandchildren, great grandchildren can read about them. It just seems the right thing to do."

Listen toauorReal Audiofile.Officer DuBois:"Their families need to understand that they can be proud of their great grandfather or their father or their brother that he did give the ultimate sacrifice for their freedom, so that they could sleep at night. So that they could be safe."Lt. Wiseman has made the trip to Washington to be a part of a candlelight vigil.

The six officers he helped to memorialize are:

J.A. Chason and Owen Lockamy, 1907James Benton, 1908Daniel Chason, 1925Willis Genes, 1939James McLaurin, 1951