Warren

Memorial ceremony, marker honor fallen heroes

By Brian Louwers
C & G Staff Writer

WARREN — Officer Edward A. Rea and Detective Sgt. Christopher M. Wouters are gone, but they’ll never be forgotten.

The names of the Warren Police Department’s two fallen heroes are now etched in 4-inch-thick black granite, forever part of a special memorial donated to the city and the department by the Warren Crime Commission.

The memorial was officially unveiled during a ceremony on May 11, held in honor of National Police Week.

“They’ve been working on it for a couple of years. It was an appropriate time to unveil it and introduce it to the public,” Warren Police Deputy Commissioner Jere Green said. “Obviously, the Police Department embraced the idea. These officers can’t be recognized enough for their sacrifice.”

Rea, a graduate of South Lake High School in St. Clair Shores and a veteran of the U.S. Navy, was 26 when he died while on duty from injuries sustained in a car crash on Van Dyke. Rea died on March 3, 1969, leaving behind a wife and two children.

Wouters, a graduate of Wayne State University and Center Line’s St. Clement High School, was 42 when he gave his life in the line of duty. Wouters was fatally shot during a struggle with a suspect inside of the jail at Warren’s police headquarters on Oct. 11, 2000.

Warren Crime Commission Chairman Mark Messens said the memorial, though a long time coming in terms of planning and financing, is what the commission envisioned when it was originally conceived.

“It came out real well. I’ll tell you a lot of it was through the efforts of Dennis Larsson, who is a skilled trades machine person,” said Messens, who credited Larsson with the memorial’s design, manufacturing and machine work.

The memorial measures 24 inches by 36 inches and stands 6 feet tall on a frame made of machined aluminum. The black granite memorial features an inserted plaque made of bronze.

Temporarily on display on the west side of the now renamed Christopher M. Wouters Warren Police Headquarters, the memorial will eventually be secured on the east side of the facility, once scheduled concrete work is completed.

Messens said members of the Warren Crime Commission were able to secure in-house talents to produce a memorial worthy of those it honors at a price they could afford.  The process took about four years, but he said the end result was worth it.

The Warren City Council previously signed off on the purchase of the memorial, totaling less than $1,500. That price was about 10 percent of what the project could have cost through an outside vendor, Messens said.

“We couldn’t bring anything to the Police Department that we wanted to put our name on for the amount of money we were able to generate. It took us a long time to come up with the formula,” Messens said. “I think it’s going to be a permanent testimony not only to the memory of the heroes who gave their lives, but also to the pain and anguish of the people they left behind.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Brian Louwers at brianlouwers@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1089.