Pennsylvania State Police Troop A pays tribute to fallen members with memorial ceremony

May 5 is Pennsylvania State Trooper Memorial Day. On Tuesday, Troop A in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, took time to remember some of their members who gave their lives in the line of duty.

The names of eleven former Pennsylvania State Police troopers, all members of Troop A, were memorialized during the ceremony.

"Eleven members gave their lives in the line of duty. Eleven left home to serve the people of this Commonwealth and didn't return," remarked Captain Richard Quinn, the commanding officer for Troop A.

The names and faces harken back to the beginning of the last century and into the new one. Those names include troopers like Private John L. Williams, who enlisted in the state police on Aug. 19, 1907, and Trooper Joseph J. Sepp, Jr., who enlisted on Feb. 24, 1992.

Also remembered was the most recent Troop A member who gave his life in service of the Commonwealth and its residents.

"The patrol comms operation said we lost a trooper. We lost Mike Stewart," Capt. Quinn said.

Trooper Michael P. Stewart was killed when the patrol unit he was in slammed into the side of a garbage truck in the early hours of July 14, 2017.

"I remember young Michael. I remember Michael when he came to the Steelers as a ballboy," former Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said at the event. Colbert remains a friend of the Stewart family.

"Every day you walk out the door, they're hoping and praying you walk back in that door. But nobody knows," Colbert said.

The solemn ceremony ended with the notes of "Taps" played and taken by the wind.