One of the core initiatives of The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s mission and why it exists as an organization is to honor the fallen by recognizing the sacrifices men and women in the profession have made.
On October 25, 2023, the National Law Enforcement Museum teamed with Saving a Hero’s Place, a Texas-based nonprofit organization run by police officers and their families, to unveil a custom wood Honor Chair that will take permanent residence at the Museum, ensuring that all the officers lost in the line of duty across our nation are never forgotten.
Saving a Hero’s Place’s builds chairs to help honor the memories of the fallen and promote healing and peace for public safety organizations through the remembrance of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. The organization took on the task of building a chair for the National Law Enforcement Museum to represent the lives of the 23,785 officers who have died in the line of duty to date throughout U.S. history.
In a stirring dedication ceremony, the cover from the custom wood chair was lifted, displaying the beautiful design and intricate details that make the chairs unique. After a moment of silence for the fallen, Bill Alexander, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Tommy Capell, the Executive Director of Saving a Hero’s Place and former law enforcement officer with the San Antonio Police Department, explained to the crowd the impactful work of the organization and the significance of reserving this permanent seat for our heroes.
“We thank everyone from the Honor Chair organization who has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make this a reality,” Alexander said of the Museum’s Honor Chair. “The Museum is a place to tell the story of American law enforcement and the Honor Chair is an important component of that. I can think of no more appropriate place to have this Chair than right here where we honor the men and women who have died in the line of duty so their service is never forgotten.”
With the support of FinancialCop, the chair was built in two days on-site in the Saving a Hero’s Place mobile workshop trailer just outside the Museum with assistance coming from D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers and other supporters.
“We are absolutely honored to craft and place an Honor Chair in the National Law Enforcement Museum,” said Capell. “We’ve wanted to do this for some time now. It means so much to us to have this chair here considering we know so many names that are on the walls of the Memorial that we wish we didn’t, but this is for them.”
The opportunity arose after Capell met with National Law Enforcement Museum Executive Director Thomas Canavan and the team at Relentless Defender, a corporate sponsor of NLEOMF and a clothing apparel company that develops apparel for officers to wear with pride.
What started as a hobby of woodworking, Capell was approached by a colleague to build a chair in honor of a fallen officer in San Antonio. This solemn gesture and initial one-time project to honor the fallen in 2013, has grown to 270 chairs that have been constructed and delivered all across the country.
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