May 19th, 2022 by WCBC Radio

Fallen Heroes Day in Maryland was commemorated recently in an event attended by Governor Larry Hogan. Every year, the occasion is marked by a ceremony that honors first responders who gave their lives in the line of duty. This year, there was an unprecedented 15 fallen heroes, seven of whom died as a result of COVID-19. Locally, just one officer in the history of the Cumberland Police Department has been killed in the line of duty and that was well over a hundred years ago. It was in October of 1907 when officer August Baker responded to a nighttime disturbance in the street outside a saloon, and the subject resisting arrest drew his own handgun and shot August Baker one inch below the heart. Baker died two days later. During this year’s ceremony, Governor Hogan acknowledged all of the families of fallen troopers from every part of the state…

The subject generated some discussion locally last year when the Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization agreed  to sponsor a project to erect a  large gravemarker for August Baker and his family.