Constable Lewis Byers came to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) at the young age of 20 in November of 1911.
He had worked for both the Winnipeg Police and the North West Mounted Police (NWMP). When the NWMP required him to ask permission to marry, and subsequently denied his request, Byers quit and married Annie Woodcock.
The couple tragically lost their month-old baby shortly after, leading to the decision to move to Woodcock’s hometown of Vancouver.
Five months after returning to Vancouver Byers would become the first VPD officer to be killed in the line of duty, and to this day remains the youngest. Byers was shot and subsequently killed on March 25, 1912.
Although it has been more than 100 years since Byers was killed, his memory has lived on with current VPD officers.
Constable Bill Taylor with the VPD started a project nine years ago with one intention, to create grave markers for the 16 members of the VPD that had been killed in the line of duty.
“Checking these men’s grave markers, I noticed that only a few of them had graves that mentioned these men were police officers killed in the line of duty,” said Taylor.
“So I started this project with the intention of creating additional grave markers that would identify these men had been killed in the line of duty, and acknowledge their ultimate sacrifice.”
Taylor is originally from Quebec, and has family in Ontario. During a trip in 2009 he drove past a cemetery where he noticed four policemen laying a wreath. He stopped to inquire as to why they were laying the wreath and was told that they were laying a wreath for all of the members killed in the line of duty in honour of the police memorial week.
“I thought to myself that it was something we could continue on with to honour the members that have died in the line of duty while serving with the VPD,” said Taylor.
Out of the 16 members killed in the line of duty, 11 were buried in Vancouver, three have been cremated, one was buried in Ontario, and the final, Byers, was laid to rest in Carievale.
There have been ceremonies for all of the 16 fallen members, with Byers being the last to be recognized.
“It’s kind of ironic,” said Taylor. “Byers was the first member to be killed, and now he is the last member to be honoured with a dedicated grave marker.”
The ceremony involved a police procession, a speech regarding Byers and his death, the addition of the new grave marker and headstone dedication, a bugle call, a moment of silence and revelry, and a formal salute by the four members of the ceremonial unit.
“We have four members as a part of our ceremonial unit that attended the dedication. There is Sgt. Mike Pollard, Sgt. Corey Bech, Inspector Glenn Newman, and myself.,” said Taylor.
“We all flew in last night and are going to Carievale this morning, then after the service we will all be going to Regina, and then we fly out the next morning to Ottawa for the National Police Memorial taking place on Sunday.”
Inspector Newman with the VPD stated that the biggest thing for him and other members is the recognition of the fallen members ultimate sacrifice.
“A lot of these members have had almost no recognition in terms of their service to their communities and by greater extension all Canadians,” said Newman.
“Bill’s project has been very meaningful to us as an organization to show that these members have not been forgotten and that their sacrifice was not in vain and that we remember them. This is just a small way for us to honour their commitment.”
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