thedrifter
01-20-07, 07:45 AM
Top award named after fallen Marine
By Staff Reports
1/20/2007
The Top Scholar Award given to Tulsa police officers at their academy graduation has been renamed to honor an officer who was killed this year while serving as a Marine in Iraq.
The graduation ceremony on Friday was the first at which the Officer Jared Shoemaker Top Scholar Award was given to a graduate.
The award was presented to Officer Ryan E. Blanton, according to Traci Yates, president of the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police Auxiliary.
The group presents awards for both scholarship and marksmanship at each academy class graduation.
"Jared had actually received the award himself when he graduated, so we felt that it was a good way to honor him," Yates said.
Shoemaker, a Marine reservist, was a patrol officer until the Marines called him for active duty in December 2005.
He was killed Sept. 4 in Iraq's Anbar province when his armored vehicle struck a bomb.
Lance Cpl. Cody Hill, 23, of Ada was in the same armored vehicle and sustained shrapnel injuries and burns over 50 percent of his body.
Both men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at the time of the bombing.
Ellie
By Staff Reports
1/20/2007
The Top Scholar Award given to Tulsa police officers at their academy graduation has been renamed to honor an officer who was killed this year while serving as a Marine in Iraq.
The graduation ceremony on Friday was the first at which the Officer Jared Shoemaker Top Scholar Award was given to a graduate.
The award was presented to Officer Ryan E. Blanton, according to Traci Yates, president of the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police Auxiliary.
The group presents awards for both scholarship and marksmanship at each academy class graduation.
"Jared had actually received the award himself when he graduated, so we felt that it was a good way to honor him," Yates said.
Shoemaker, a Marine reservist, was a patrol officer until the Marines called him for active duty in December 2005.
He was killed Sept. 4 in Iraq's Anbar province when his armored vehicle struck a bomb.
Lance Cpl. Cody Hill, 23, of Ada was in the same armored vehicle and sustained shrapnel injuries and burns over 50 percent of his body.
Both men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at the time of the bombing.
Ellie