In some years, there may only be a handful of children. In other years, more than a dozen. To Jack Mitchell, one of the most moving parts of the Fallen Heroes Day ceremony is when the children of those being honored are invited to place flowers at their memorial.
"The number of 'fallen heroes' varies from year to year but every year, there has been at least one," said John "Jack" Mitchell IV, president of Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, 200 East Padonia Road, the cemetery where the annual ceremony is held.
Fallen Heroes Day honors police and correctional officers, firefighters, emergency medical and rescue personnel in Maryland who died in the line of duty from the previous year's ceremony. Scheduled for Friday, June 12, at 1 p.m., the 2015 ceremony honors three firefighters and three police officers from Baltimore City and County, Bel Air, Charles County and Prince George's County.
The ceremony was initiated in 1986 by the cemetery's then-owner, John Armiger Jr., who with his father John Armiger Sr. built the cemetery and, in the 1970s, created the Fallen Heroes Section, specifically for first responders who died in the line of duty.
When Mitchell and his father, John Mitchell III, bought the cemetery in 2007, they continued the annual ceremony. "It was already well known and well established in the community, and we felt it was an honor to carry on the tradition," said Mitchell.
The ceremony is open to the public and it is not unusual for 1,500 people to attend. Some of the past Fallen Hero families make it a point to attend every year. Hundreds of police officers and firefighters will also be present, their professional organizations arranging with the cemetery beforehand for them to march in ranks.
Government officials will be on hand, as well as a program of speakers and performers. This year, as he has for the past nine years, Jon Wikstrom, will perform a song he wrote called "Be My Angel."
Wikstrom, a Towson resident, spent a decade in Nashville, Tenn., as a songwriter. Some of his songs were published. Some were recorded.
"I never had a hit song," he said, and in the end, he left Nashville for a job in Baltimore.
Wikstrom attended his first Fallen Heroes Day ceremony 11 years ago. "I was so touched that I realized a song I had written would go well with the ceremony," said Wikstrom, a life coach. He and his wife, Katherine, a defense contractor, have two children, Jackson, 16, and Olivia, 13, both students at Loch Raven High School.
Wikstrom wrote "Be My Angel" decades ago after the sudden death of a dear friend. After attending the Fallen Heroes Day ceremony, he contacted Armiger, who loved the song, followed by an audition before a group of officials that put him on the ceremony program.
According to Mitchell, 68 "fallen heroes" are interred at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Police and firefighter organizations provide the cemetery with the names of eligible "fallen heroes." The cemetery offers a burial site to their families, he said, although not all families choose to have their loved ones buried in Dulaney Valley.
For those who do, the "fallen hero" and his or her spouse receive free grave spaces, grave opening and closing, burial vault and bronze marker.
"The Fallen Heroes Day ceremony is for everyone [who died in the line of duty during the year] whether they are buried here or not," said Mitchell. "They deserve recognition for the sacrifice they've made."