The piercing radio tone echoed across the lawn in front of the Nassau County Sheriff s Office on Wednesday morning, then a dispatcher read the end of watch roll call for the nine names on a brick wall memorializing those who died on duty there.
The terse dictation included Deputy Joseph Robinson, killed in 1891, and Bailiff Deputy Jack Gwynes, felled by COVID-19 just three months ago and not yet added. Rest in peace, job well-done, the dispatcher ended.
Fallen Nassau County sheriff s deputies, plus a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, Hilliard constable and Fernandina Beach were all remembered at a 30-minute ceremony under flags flapping at half-mast in the breeze.