Ceremony honoring fallen first responders set for Saturday

Lincoln Parish residents can join in paying tribute to 36 fallen first responders from across the country on Saturday when the National EMS Memorial Service Moving Honors stops in Ruston.

The ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m. at Ruston’s Historic Fire Station located on East Mississippi Avenue.

The Moving Honors procession began in Seattle, Washington, on July 5 and is making its way to Arlington, Virginia, for the National EMS Memorial Service Weekend of Honor event July 19-21.

The National EMS Memorial Service is a volunteer organization dedicated to recognizing and honoring emergency medical service personnel who have died in the line of duty.

“I think it’s so important to build a community that understands (EMS service) is not something that has gone without sacrifice,” Alex Pafford, Louisiana Operations Manager for Pafford EMS, and one of the event organizers, said.

The organization’s goal is to eventually build a permanent memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring EMS workers killed, injured, or disabled in the line of duty, as well as past and present EMS workers.

Pafford said the procession is made up of an ambulance and support vehicle that’s joined on legs of the cross-country drive by local emergency vehicles.

“Leaving Ruston on Saturday morning we’ll have a convoy of ambulances that will go to the state line,” he said.

This year’s list of honorees includes Shreveport firefighter Leonard Coney who died in January 2021 from complications of COVID-19. Coney, 41, a firefighter/advanced EMT, contracted COVID while on the job, according a story published in the Shreveport Times at the time of his death.

Others on the list include retired New York City firefighter/paramedic Peter Bushey who died in 2023 from a World Trade Center related illness.