This is National Peace Officer Memorial Day. Of 164 officers that have been killed in the line of duty in Iowa, three were from Marion County. John Van Haaften was a Pella Police Officer who was shot and killed while assisting Knoxville Police in a drug bust in 1980. Retired Police Sergeant Alvin Olivier was on duty with the undercover Van Haaften that day in Knoxville, and was there when he was killed. Olivier says it is a day he hasn’t forgotten.

Marion County Deputy Harold Gates died in November 1967. He arrived at the scene of a domestic case when an assailant opened fire on officers with a high powered rifle.
Another officer passed away in June of 2008. Transport Officer Virgil Behrens died after injuries sustained in an automobile accident on his way to training in Des Moines.
Today you’ll hear part two of Dr. Bob Leonard’s special in-depth program memorializing the officers fallen in Marion County.