Howard firefighters, Baltimore police officer honored at 40th Fallen Heroes Day ceremony

Kiersten Hacker

The Baltimore Sun

May 2, 2025

Motorcycles rumbled and bagpipes rang out at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Timonium for the 40th annual Fallen Heroes Day ceremony honoring Maryland firefighters, police and corrections officers, and emergency medical personnel who died in the line of duty.

Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens began observing Fallen Heroes Day in 1986, welcoming families, friends and current service members on the first Friday in May.

Among those honored this year were Lt. Richard Blankenship, who served with the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services; Daoud A. Mingo, a police officer with the Baltimore Police Department; and Capt. Charles P. Ditch and Lt. Joseph A. Stigler, who died in 1953 fighting a fire with the Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department.

“So today at the 40th annual Fallen Heroes Day, we honor not only those we lost, but the strength of those they left behind, because there are still so many pages to write. Our fallen heroes wrote their story in valor and left you the pen,” Maryland  Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller said to a crowd of families and current service members.

Charlene Blankenship sat in the crowd with pink sparkly nails painted with “3560,” her late husband’s firefighter ID number, and a cat, as everyone knew him as “Cat” in the firehouse. Lt. Richard Blankenship came from a family of firefighters, serving Howard County for two decades before he died from occupational cancer.

“He was just a big, strong guy who really loved his job and loved, you know, everything about it. It’s just, unfortunately, I guess it’s part of the business. Sometimes you take risks and he did, and he loved and, you know, did the best he could,” Charlene said.

It “means the world” to be able to honor him on Fallen Heroes Day, and it’s even more special to see his six children watching his memory live on, she said.

Three of Blankenship’s sons became career firefighters, carrying on their father’s legacy in the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services. The family is so proud to watch them serve in the firehouse they grew up in, Charlene Blankenship said. The firefighters who worked with her husband have taken his sons “under their wing,” she said, telling stories about him or pointing out some of his qualities they see in them.

The fire community is a family dynamic that Charlene described as “everything.” Everyone offers their care and support, especially a group of firefighter wives, Charlene said, which she continues to be a part of.

Lt. Jeff Shilling is also a part of the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services family. He and Blankenship played on a department softball team together. Blankenship was “a heck of a softball player and even a better teammate,” Shilling said, and he was the same team player in the firehouse.

Shilling played taps at Friday’s event even though he planned to step away from playing. When he heard Ditch was being honored, he decided to play again because of his connection to Ditch’s daughter, “Ms. Bev.”

Ditch and Stigler died in 1953 when a chimney suddenly collapsed after crews fought a fire on Old Columbia Pike. Shilling and Chief Robin Zevotek accepted a proclamation declaring the day as Fallen Heroes Day in the state on behalf of all surviving firefighters, as Ditch and Stigler were recognized as individuals who died in the line of duty before Fallen Heroes Day was established.

“A lot of people see public servants, whether it’s police, fire, they see us as, you know, on TV they see us as the heroes. But we’re ordinary people that live ordinary lives that have families,” Shilling said. “When tragedy strikes one of us in the public service sector, it affects our families in a way that affects anybody’s family that goes through tragedy, but the fire service and police service is such a tight-knit community…,” Shilling said.

That tight-knit community was there to support Tamara Mingo, who said her brother’s fellow officers are like “brothers from another mother.” Her brother, Daoud A. Mingo, was a motorcycle officer in Baltimore City who was critically injured while leading a funeral procession for another officer about 10 years ago. He died from his injuries in 2023.

Mingo said she and her brother were best friends growing up in New Jersey. He loved every minute of his job with the Baltimore Police Department, she said, and was even more excited when he got to be on the motorcycle unit.

There are good days and bad days, Mingo said, and a slew of emotions. However, what’s most important, she said, is keeping her head up.

“When you’re watching and there’s literally absolutely nothing else you can do, you just try and, you know, keep your head up and stay close to your family and talk to them and you’re just trying to stay positive,” she said.

Charlene Blankenship also tries to remain positive, reflecting on the memories she had with her husband as she learns to function differently.

“Grief doesn’t just go away and completely heal,” Blankenship said. “It kind of becomes part of you, and that loss changes you.”