Vice President James David Vance delivered powerful remarks as one of the many speakers memorializing the brave men and women on the front lines of duty answering the call to make their communities and nation safer. Vance’s remarks came at the National Peace Officers’ annual memorial service, put on by the National Fraternal Order of Police.
For context, Vance spoke at what was the 45th annual service of its kind, dating back to 1982 when the national organization took former president John F. Kennedy’s proclamation setting aside May 15th as National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day. Every year since then, the event honors officers whose lives were lost in the line of the duty the previous year. In 2025, 111 police officers made the ultimate sacrifice.
Speaking from the podium, the vice president shared a part of scripture where the prophet Isaiah answers God’s call for a leader among the Israelites. “I want to open with a line of scripture from the book of Isaiah. I suspect it’s a passage that all of you in law enforcement know very well, but I think it speaks so much to the sacrifice and to the duty and to the sense of purpose that every single law enforcement officer takes with them every single day of the job,” he began.
“In it the prophet Isaiah recounts from inside the Temple of Jerusalem. Quote, then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here I am, send me,” he quoted.
“My friends, we gather this afternoon to honor men and women who heard the exact same call, men and women whose selflessness led them toward danger when others fled, people who said, “Send me, not send somebody else, but send me, people whom service was a way of life, not a burden, and their love of community, of their families, of their neighborhoods, of the places they called home bound them to a life of duty to others, a duty they lived out every single day, from the first time they put on that amazing badge to the moment that they took their very last breath,” he went on.
“In the Old Testament, God does not force Isaiah to serve Him. Isaiah knew it would not be easy, but He steps up willingly. He volunteers, just like every single one of you, and every single one of your loved ones, he accepts God’s call to give his life in service to his fellow man. And today we remember men and women in uniform who laid down their lives answering that exact same call,” he remarks.
Watch Vance below:
Writing on their website, the Fraternal Order of Police comment on the important annual tradition. “On May 15 of every year, the Grand Lodge Auxiliary of the Fraternal Order of Police, together with the National Fraternal Order of Police, memorializes officers who made the ultimate sacrifice during the previous year. Thousands of police officers, survivors, families and friends gather on the lawn of the United States Capitol to honor those fallen heroes,” the website states.
“Auxiliary committee members work year-round planning a service that will honor the memory of the fallen officers. As May approaches, many Auxiliary members from all parts of the country come together in Washington, D.C., to work tirelessly to assure that surviving family members will participate in a service of tribute to their loved ones,” it concludes.