KFD Holds Memorial Service Oct. 12, 2016

Communications Director

Kristin Farley
[email protected]
(865) 215-2589

400 Main St., Room 691
Knoxville, TN 37902

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KFD Holds Memorial Service Oct. 12, 2016

Posted: 10/12/2016
2016 Memorial Ceremony
Photos by Traci K. McDonell /  City of Knoxville

KFD Memorial Ceremony 2016The Knoxville Fire Department held its annual memorial service honoring fallen firefighters Wednesday, Oct. 12 at Fallen Firefighter Memorial Park at Headquarters Station (600 Summit Hill Ave.) in Downtown Knoxville.

The annual ceremony honored the 24 KFD firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty since 1885 and the nine retired firefighters who have died since the last memorial service.

As part of the ceremony, attended by active and retired firefighters and family and friends of those being honored, a bell tolled once for each of the fallen firefighters.

At the same time - as each fallen firefighter's name was read by Fire Chief Stan Sharp and the bell tolled - a single red rose was placed into a gold-colored vase bearing the department's insignia.

Mayor Madeline Rogero and Chief Sharp spoke at the ceremony and a wreath was placed at the firefighter's statue in Firefighter Memorial Park in front of the station.

KFD Memorial Ceremony 2016Members of KFD who have died in the line of duty since 1885:

Captain Robert L. "Buddy" Blankenship
Fred Everett Boatman
Chief Sam B. Boyd
John. J. Dunn
J.C. Flenniken
Michael A. Fletcher
Captain Howard O. Gray
Captain William F. Maxey
Captain Tom. F. Heagerty
Henry Clay Lawless
James H. May
Louie A. McCaughan
Captain Henry "Pat" Mitchell
Raymond H. "Shorty" Nash
Captain John O. "Slim" Pickens
William Scott Popejoy, Jr.
William C. Reed
Lloyd C. Scruggs
Captain Worley Sharp 
Fred M. "Jack" Sexton
Carl Eugene Smith
George H. Smith
Joe E. Tarwater
Captain Charles E. Youngblood

Retired firefighters who have died
since the last memorial service:


Jesse Bost
John Harrill
Gerald Lampkin
Jackie T. Mealer, Sr.
Jack B. Norton
Robert P. Pressley
Gary G. Sharpe
John "Doug" Wilkerson
Roy W. Wilson

The annual KFD Firefighter Retiree's Luncheon followed the memorial service.

KFD MemorialHistory of the Ceremony and Memorial

The Knoxville Fire Department had only been an organized paid department for 19 years when they suffered their first two line of duty deaths (LODD) in 1904. The citizens thought it fitting to perpetuate in stone the names of the deceased men that perished protecting the property of their fellow neighbors. Every October during fire prevention week the names of Knoxville's bravest who answered their last alarm, along with retired firefighters that have passed in the last year will be read by the Chief of the department. Since the memorial's inception there have been 24 LODD names etched in the stone.