Two more names have been inscribed on the Cenotaph, Honour Roll and Memorial Wall Plaques following the annual RCMP National Memorial Service on Sunday.
Veterans, dignitaries, cadets and RCMP members from across the country gathered at the RCMP Academy Depot Division to honour those who have fallen in the line of duty.
Corporal George Ronald Hawkins and Constable David Matthew Wynn are the two Mounties whose names were added at the ceremony. According to a press release, the numbers of fallen members now total 236 since the creation of the North-West Mounted Police in 1873.
Corporal Hawkins served from January 4th, 1957 until June 6th, 1968 and Constable Wynn served from July 20th, 2009 until January 21st, 2015.
Wynn died from a gunshot would he suffered while attempting to apprehend a suspect in a stolen vehicle investigation in St. Albert, Alta., in January.
Hawkins died in 1968 from encephalitis related to a tick bite he suffered while on duty.
He was tracking a suspect in the Turtle Mountains in southwestern Manitoba at the time.
“As we take the time to remember those memorialized on the wall, also remember that what you do every day in the field or in the office in service to Canadians honours the uniform and the country these heroes died for. Every time you take a criminal off the streets, every time you help a child, every time you help someone feel safe in their home, you honour these heroes," RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said in a press release.
The annual ceremony dates back to the mid-1930s when RCMP members would gather in Depot’s Sleigh Square every second Sunday in September to honour fallen members.
With files from the Canadian Press.
