Three Clark County lawmen who died in the line of duty decades ago received a belated honor on Thursday during the annual Law Enforcement Memorial ceremony.
The Medal of Honor was posthumously awarded to Deputy Wilfred Rorison, Sheriff Lester Wood and Deputy Martin Sowders, and family members for each man were present to accept the award on their behalf.
Rorison was a 26-year-old newly hired deputy in August 1922 when he received information about an illegal still operating out of Stevenson. Rorison accompanied federal agents to raid the site on Aug. 7, 1922, when the law enforcement officers came under fire. Rorison and a federal agent died.
Two of Rorison’s great-grandchildren, who had never known of each other, met at the event and learned that they shared an interesting similarity: They both work in law enforcement.
“I didn’t even know my great-grandfather was in law enforcement until three weeks ago,” said Katie Krauss, who works for the police department in Los Altos, Calif. “I followed in his footsteps without even knowing it … learning about the connection was incredible.”
Russ Clawson, a deputy with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, said that he knew his great-grandfather Rorison died in the line of duty. He said it feels good to be a part of the recognition.
“I feel like I’m continuing the legacy,” he said.
Lester Wood was the newly elected sheriff of Clark County when he was killed in the line of duty on May 22, 1927. Wood and some of his deputies were searching for a still near Yacolt when Wood was confronted by a gunman. He rounded a bend and was shot and killed.
Nearly 20 of Wood’s descendants attended the event, including Ryan Wood, an Explorer with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, who accepted the award on his great-great grandfather’s behalf.
Martin Sowders was only 29 when he was shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to an armed robbery on Nov. 18, 1976.
His wife, Becky Sowders, said that she’s glad to see her husband get the overdue honor.
“He was what they called the cop’s cop,” she said. “He followed every rule … he truly just wanted to make sure that people were safe.”
Martin Sowders applied for grants that paid for overtime costs for DUI patrols, Becky Sowders said.
“I never met a cop who liked writing DUIs better than Marty,” she said. “He had a smile on his face every time he wrote (the citation).”
Thursday’s ceremony included a 21-gun salute by a multi-agency honor guard, guest speaker state Rep. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, and a proclamation by Clark County council Chairman David Madore. The ceremony is held in conjunction with National Police Week.
This year’s event took the crowd back in time because when Rorison, Wood and Sowders died, the award didn’t exist.
Washington legislators established the Law Enforcement Medal of Honor in 1994, and the committee tasked with giving out the award has been playing catch-up ever since.
The belated awards were prompted by a retired Seattle police officer who has taken the time to compare the names of fallen officers that appear on the Law Enforcement Memorial Wall in Olympia to those who have received the Medal of Honor, said Marvin Skeen, executive secretary for the state’s Law Enforcement Medal of Honor Committee.
“The fact that it’s delayed doesn’t diminish the award at all,” Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson said. Nelson is a member of the Medal of Honor committee. “It doesn’t diminish any portion of honoring these men … what matters is that now we have the opportunity to honor these guys who died in the line of duty.”
