Dean Palmer | Civitas News Service
A group of about 30 family members, town officials, police officers and others gathered Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Tlaquepaque Restaurant on Old U.S. 52 Bypass to honor the memories of fallen Pilot Mountain Police Officers Glenn Branscome and Ralph East. The officers were killed in the line of duty on Feb. 3, 1969, after stopping a vehicle containing four men who were suspected of armed robberies earlier that evening in Forsyth County. On Saturday morning, after a short ceremony with comments from organizer and law enforcement veteran Chet Jessup, Pilot Mountain Mayor Earl Sheppard and Chief of Police Darryl Bottoms, those in attendance walked or rode tracing the 1.7-mile path taken by the officers while following the suspect vehicle. Here, the annual memorial walk ends with a gathering near the Armfield Civic Center at the sight of the tragedy where Officers East and Branscome were killed 44 years ago. With the location marked by a cross, Chet Jessup was joined by those in attendance as he concluded the event with an interactive poem entitled, “We Remember.”
Dean Palmer | Civitas News Service
Photos of Branscome and East are displayed on a table around which participants gathered. A sign in the background was erected in 2007, when a section of the bypass had been dedicated as the Officer Glenn Branscome-Officer Ralph East Highway.
A group of about 30 family members, town officials, police officers and others gathered Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Tlaquepaque Restaurant on Old U.S. 52 Bypass to honor the memories of fallen Pilot Mountain Police Officers Glenn Branscome and Ralph East. The officers were killed in the line of duty on Feb. 3, 1969, after stopping a vehicle containing four men who were suspected of armed robberies earlier that evening in Forsyth County. On Saturday morning, after a short ceremony with comments from organizer and law enforcement veteran Chet Jessup, Pilot Mountain Mayor Earl Sheppard and Chief of Police Darryl Bottoms, those in attendance walked or rode tracing the 1.7-mile path taken by the officers while following the suspect vehicle. Here, the annual memorial walk ends with a gathering near the Armfield Civic Center at the sight of the tragedy where Officers East and Branscome were killed 44 years ago. With the location marked by a cross, Chet Jessup was joined by those in attendance as he concluded the event with an interactive poem entitled, “We Remember.”
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