A mobile law enforcement memorial traveled through downtown Lebanon Wednesday afternoon to honor the sacrifice of fallen police Lt. William Lebo.
The Beyond the Call of Duty Ride to Remember memorial stopped on Cumberland Street in front of the Lebanon City Hall on July 10, with volunteers joining with Lebo's family and members of the Lebanon City Police Department to hold a short remembrance service. Lt. William Lebo was shot and killed in the line of duty March 31, 2022.
Tens of thousands of people stop volunteers during ride because they are attracted to the memorial pictures and hear the stories of the fallen officers, Beyond the Call of Duty coordinator Allison McCarter said.
"We just hope that it means the more we can tell them about Bill, about his family (and) about Lebanon, that it will stick in their heads a little bit more and they'll keep remembering him," she said. "So there will be strangers all over the nation talking about him and the other 379 men and women on the memorial."
Ride to Remember volunteers began June 1 traveling across the country from Spokane, Washington with a small group that includes motorcycles and a large trailer. The sides if the trailer include photos of police officers lost in the line of duty from 2022 and 2023 throughout the United States, McCarter said.
"We're on the road this year for 73 days, ride about 23,000 miles, and we are visiting over 250 agencies, all that suffered one of these losses," she said.
Day 40 of the ride brought the memorial just over 12,000 miles to the heart of Lebanon to honor the memory of Lt. William Lebo.
"Anyone who knew him, (Lebo) was quite the automotive enthusiast," Lebanon City Police Chief Bret Fisher said. "He had some antique cars. He had an antique corvette. He had a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and to see him be a tribute on the side of a trailer, traveling around the United States on the road is quite fitting I believe."
On March 31, 2022, Lebo, Officer Derek Underkoffler, Officer Ryan Adams and Officer Kris McCarrick responded to a domestic disturbance report. Lebo died in a shootout with a man who had broken into a home on the 1100 block of Forest Street.
Lebo had more than 40 years of service and was 30 days from retirement.
Officers Adams and Underkoffler were also injured and underwent emergency surgery that day. Adams has left the department and works for the Dauphin County Sheriff's Department, according to Fisher. Underkoffler is still on the road to recovery and had been researching the history of the Lebanon City Police Department.
Mobile Remembrance
McCarter joined with Lebo's wife, Lora, and mother, Rina, in the afternoon to place a flower next to the photo of the fallen Lebanon officer on the mobile memorial, offering support during the small service Wednesday.
What makes the 73-day ride worth it is to learn about the fallen officer stories and become friends with their family members, McCarter said.
"(Lebo) had a pure love for anything with an engine, or pogo sticks or Segways," McCarter said. "He was a car guy through and through. Had beautiful motorcycles. We were just looking at some pictures with his wife and mom."
During the two-year anniversary of Lebo's passing, officials have said that the Lebanon City Police Department and the officers who knew Lebo are still healing from that loss. On May 7, President Joe Biden signed House Resolution 3865 to rename the 101 South 8th St. post office as the "Lieutenant William D. Lebo Post Office Building.”
Tributes to Lt. Lebo, like the mobile memorial and renaming the post office, show that the policing profession is an honorable career, Fisher said. Police officers make a commitment and a sacrifice to serve their community every day when they put on the badge.
"Obviously, Lt. Lebo's sacrifice hits home," Fisher said. "It's 832 days since that day, and probably as we speak we're pretty close to the exact minute that it happened."
"Every tribute will have some tough times," he said. "To watch Lt. Lebo's mom shed tears looking at the picture on the trailer is tough. To watch the tears drip from Lora Lebo is tough. But you regroup, and you think about all the good Lt. Lebo did here, and that's what you remember."
Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth.
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