Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Joe was one of my best friends and co-worker. Joe was the type of cop we all hope to be in our career. Joe understood the word "Brotherhood" which some of us forget. The military fights for us to insure our freedom, Police officers allows each one of us to enjoy those freedoms. Joe was a soldier on our streets and he payed the ultimate price for it. It's sad when you lose a fellow brother or sister in blue, but for it to be one of your closest friends it makes it even more difficult to deal with. Lets never forget that we are a family and we only survive if we have each other. The trip to Rhode Island from South Carolina to attend his funeral showed me just how much of a brotherhood law enforcement really are. I was amazed at the respect given from departments and citizens that I seen on our trip. Joe was honored in such a way that I'm sure he was extremly proud. To all Joe's family, friends and fiance' we will always have you in our hearts. You'll never be forgotten!

Partol those streets above Joe, we'll all join you soon enough.

Officer Hooper
Myrtle Beach Police Department

To the family and friends of Police Officer Joe McGarry I give you my deepest sympathy. My brother was a Detroit Police Officer who was shot in the head and killed during an arrest in August. As the other person from Detroit wrote, cry and talk to each other. It helped us alot to be able to talk and cry with my brother's friends and co-workers. We were able to laugh as they told us stories about our brother. My thoughts will be with you. This is a very difficult time, please know that you are not alone. Some days will be easier than others. I am truly sorry that your family has to go through this, it is a very horrible experience. Over the holidays we burned a blue candle during every family gathering to symbolize our lost hero.

My heart goes out to you.
Andrea Arrington
Sister of Detroit Police Officer Scott Stewart
EOW 8/11/02

This news hits me like a ton of bricks! The thin blue line is thinner today, but its mystery is that it will never disappear. As long as there are men and women willing to pin the badge on everyday and walk through the "valley of the shadow of death", the thin blue line survives! As long as there are those among us willing to be the difference between good and evil, between right and wrong, the thin blue line, the great equalizer, continues through our nation and wrapping itself around the world! We police officers are a resilient gang...we will carry on the mission that we have chosen. We must! To honor the memory of Officer McGarry, and the many who have gone before him, we must carry on. To the family of Officer McGarry: My words will never fill your void...ever...I will not even try. My prayers, and the nation's, are with you all. To the Officers of the Myrtle Beach Police Department: Dig down deep and search for the fortitude and the courage to do what you have to do. Let the thin blue line envelope you. Lean on each other. Remember Joe...EVERYDAY and never forget his family! Honor Joe by honoring them every chance you get. I apologize for the length of this, but the words are flowing from my fingers...

GRIEF IS AN HONOR

"Accumulated grief and sorrow, no longer to be held at bay, have swarmed up and blown
the hinges off the gate. Grief and sorrow have flattened me.
After the gate flew open, I learned the most important lessons of my life. I learned that
grief is precisely equivalent to love, and the terrible grief felt after the loss of a person one
has loved deeply is a necessary consequence of that love and represents its survival in
another form. However bitterly, grief is an honor.
I learned that grief universally saturates and enriches our world, for sooner or later loss
of an almost unimaginable order transforms everyone. Parents die, brothers and sisters
die, even children die, and these deaths create irreparable wounds that shrink over time but
never heal. On all sides, tears lie just beneath the surface. The emotion that gives rise to
those tears is a connective tissue extending far, far down into our common humanity and
our individual beings, and in those depths it becomes indistinguishable from joy."

Lt. T.D. Barge
East Point, Georgia P.D.

My brother, you have paid the ultimate sacriface in the name of service above self. God speed.

Trooper M Bowling
Kentucky State Police

Rest in peace my brother in blue.

PO V. HITT
BARNWELL CITY POLICE

My heart goes out to the family and department of officer McGarry. I could never imagine how hard this must be, but you must remember that he was a hero. I myself being married to a police officer know how hard the job is and look up to my husband everyday for what he does. Now I not only look up to him but to every police officer that has giving his life for others. Officer McGarry will always be a hero to me just like every other police officer across America. My prayers are with you. God Bless.

J. McMillion
A Officer's Wife

My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of this brave young man. He gave his life doing what he loved. May he rest in peace, and keep watch over us from above.

Lori Brown
Aunt of Deputy Renee Azure EOW 8/06/02

"A Part of America Died"
Somebody killed a policeman today,
and a part of America died.
A peice of our country he swore to protect,
will be buried with him at his side.
The suspect that shot him will stand up in court,
with counsel demanding his rights.
While a young widowed mother must work for her kids,
and spend many long, lonely nights.
The beat that he walked was a battle field too,
just as if he'd gone off to war.
Though the flag of our nation won't fly at half mast,
to his name they will add a gold star.
Yes, somebody killed a policeman today,
in your town or mine.
Wile we slept in comfort behind our locked doors,
a cop put his life on the line.
Now his ghost walks a beat on a dark city street,
and he stands at each new rookie's side.
He answered the call, of himself gave his all,
and part of America died.

Joe,
You are a true hero and gave the ultimate sacrifice. You will never be forgotten and may God Bless your family and friends in their time of sorrow…

Detective Michael Naylor
Newport PD,Rhode Island

To the family, friends, and brother officers. My deepest sympathy is with you in this time.

God's speed Officer McGarry.

Sgt. Michael Honiker
Forsyth County Sheriff's Office

May God bless the family and friends of Officer Joe McGarry. He is now patrolling the streets of Heaven keeping watch over us here on earth. Rest in peace.

Trooper J. Thomasson
Virginia State Police

Officer McGarry you have earned your wings of gold, may you rest in peace. My thoughts and prayers go out to your family and co-workers.

God Bless!

Det. M. Mills
Kent County Sheriff Dept

To McGarry's family and friends: "I have no words to express to you my sadness of the loss of Joe. The world is a lesser place without him, but I know he is with God and the Angels and even Heaven is improved with his presence there. I know you to are sure of this and yet this knowledge can't deminish his loss and your grief." My prayers go ouy to family and friends.

A Brother in Blue

Officer Spencer Salyers 58
Whitehall Police Department

Joe,
To one of America's many Heroes, thes this we hold dear to our Hearts to Serve and Protect others at all costs, to you and your family I offer this Salute, whatever it takes this we defend from all enemies foreign or domestic.

Keep Driving On!!!!!!!

SSG Edward H. Breach
United States Army

I would like to extend my sincere sympathy to the family of Officer Joe McGarry. Evryone that wears a badge will carry his memory forever.

Police Officer Jeff Fuqua
Sturgis Police Department

I am so very sorry to hear of yet another death in our police community. I find myself asking, “When will these senselessness end?” The truth is that it won’t. We all need to bond together as one big family and be there for one another.

My family and I know the pain of what all of your family, friends and fellow officers is going through. The feeling of a major void from within me is always lingering since the loss of my father-in-law six weeks ago.

Know this: Joe is in heaven today watching over us with the rest of our fallen police colleagues. He is so happy right now in a perfect place, with a perfect view of our lives from Heaven.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13

NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT

Sergeant Douglas Wright / Summerville PD
Son-In-Law of PTL. William B. Bell EOW: 11/19/02

As the sister of an officer who was just killed a week and a half ago, I know how most of the family is feeling. Words can't express how sorry I am that the life of a young officer was taken away. God bless all of the family of Joe McGarry. Joe has gone to help my brother Officer Christopher Betts keep peace up in heaven.

Stephanie Betts

Heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to Officer McGarry's family and to the members of Myrtle Beach PD.

#C468 - GCR Security
US Treasury - Bureau of the Public Debt

this officer was well known in all depts throught the city he will be missed by all of of us .

steven maddox
cityofmyrtlebeach

When you stand before God he will smile upon you, for you are a police officer, an instrument of justice, a champion of the meek and helpless. You are a hero to all. God bless you and comfort your family in this time of tremendous sorrow.

P.O. J. Barnes
Warren P.D., Michigan

May God bless Officer McGarry and all those who's lives he touched.

Patrol Officer
New Haven Police Dept., New Haven, CT

You will never be forgotten sir! Thank you for your service and for making the ultimate sacrifice! God Bless.

Andi -Criminal Justice Student

My thoughts and condolences are with the family of Officer McGarry. It has been a tough year for South Carolina. God Bless and thank you Joe McGarry.

Sgt Jeff Light
Beaufort County Sheriff Office SC

GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY BROTHER! YOU GIVE THE TRUE MEANING OF THE WORD HERO. YOU ARE A HERO. MY STRENGTH IS RENEWED AS A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER EVERY TIME ONE OF OUR OWN IS SLAIN. YOU CAN WATCH OVER US WITH THE LORD NOW JOE, KEEP US SAFE.

CHRIS ROBINSON, TEAM LEADER, SWAT
NEW HANOVER CO SHERIFF'S OFICE, N.C.

It's another loss for a family, a department, and law enforcement. There are no words that I could use to express my sadness about Officer Joe McGarry's passing. Please know that we feel the loss with you even though we have never met Officer McGarry. I know he was doing a job that he probably enjoyed very much and not everybody in the world gets that opportunity. Rest In Peace.

Deputy Faith Hill
Shelby County Sheriff's Office