MAINE STATE TROOPERS FOUNDATION

During National Police Week, May15-22, 2016, Mark Nickerson, President of the Maine State Troopers Foundation, escorted the widow of Trooper Charles Black to the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC. Here’s Mark’s account of the trip.

Recently I had the honor and privilege to make a trip to Washington DC for the sole purpose of removing an item from an elderly lady’s Bucket List. The lady? Her name is Mary Black Andrews. The item on her Bucket List? To see her husband’s name on the National Law Enforcement’s Officers Memorial Wall.

Most if not all Maine Troopers,present and past, know the story about her husband, Charles Clinton Black. He was a Maine State Trooper who was gunned down during a bank robbery in South Berwick, Maine in 1964.

Mary wanted to attend three events while in DC, the arrival of the COPS bicycle tour at the Iwo Jima Memorial on Thursday afternoon, attend the candle light vigil in the Mall on Friday evening, and to see her husband’s name on the wall. Not only was she able to see all this, but we got in a lot more in as well. A tour of Arlington National Cemetery, with two changing of the guards, three wreath laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and a visit to the front of the White House along with the Lincoln Memorial. It was a heart warming trip to be able to escort Mary around DC so she could see all these sites. And to be honest, she ran circles around this young fella!
Thank you, Mary!

National Police Week          National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund          Officer Down Memorial Page-Charles C. Black

SLIDESHOW OF MARY BLACK ANDREW’S D.C. TRIP