Beech Tree News Network

On October 1, 1962, U. S. President John F. Kennedy signed into public law a joint resolution of the 87th Congress designating May 15 as Police Officer's Memorial Day in honor of federal, state, and municipal peace officers who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty. Each year, the calendar week in which May 15 falls is called "Police Week." The 2013 National Peace Officer's Memorial Week has been designated May 12-18, 2013.

During this week fallen officers from across the country will be honored in both public and private ways. As a part of the Kentucky State Police's annual observance of this somber time, wreaths will be place on the graves of the 25 fallen officers who died in the line of duty while serving this great Commonwealth.

Four of these 25 brave men are from the Bowling Green Post 3 area. Three of which are buried in the Post 3 district and the forth is buried in Tennessee.

Trooper Darrell V. Phelps, age 34, was fatally shot August 7, 1981, while investigating illegal cultivation of marijuana in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Trooper Phelps was assigned to Post 3 as a detective. Trooper Phelps was an 11-year veteran of the Kentucky State Police. In honor of his service and sacrifice an eight-mile stretch of KY 1153 in Butler County has been designated the Det. Darrell V. Phelps Memorial Highway.

Post 3 personnel placed a wreath at the grave of Trooper Darrell V. Phelps at 9:00 a.m. at the Union Cemetery in Quality, Kentucky.