Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach Police march in memory of Officers Moss, Ganz, Vasquez
Retired Hemosa Beah Police Officer Anthony Parente leads Friday’s National Police Officers Memorial Day March. Photo
Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach police marched Friday in recognition of National Peace Officers Memorial Day, which honors fallen officers.
Hermosa Beach Police motorcycle officers Gary Moss and Paul Wolcott in 1982, shortly before Moss’s death. Photo courtesy of the Hermosa Beach Police Department.
The march began at Harbor and Diamond drives in Redondo Beach, and stopped at the Gary Moss Memorial in front of the Hermosa Beach Police Department. The marchers, escorted by motor officers and squad cars, then followed Ardmore Avenue to the Martin Ganz Memorial at the Manhattan Beach Police Department and then continued on to a second memorial for Ganz at the Manhattan Beach Village Mall.
Redondo Beach Police Motor Officer Brian Day escorts fellow officers on Friday’s march. Photo
Moss is the only Hermosa Beach police officer to have died in the line of duty. On June 20, 1982, he and fellow motorcycle officer Paul Wolcott were pursuing two speeding motorcyclists when Moss collided with an automobile. He died four days later from injuries sustained in the crash. Moss was 26-years-old and had joined the department just 15 months earlier.
The Manhattan Beach Community gathered at the Martin Ganz Memorial in Live Oak Park in Dec. 2018, on the 25th anniversary of the police officer’s officer’s death. Photo
Ganz was fatally shot following a traffic stop at the Manhattan Village Mall on Dec. 27, 1993. He was 29 and a five-year veteran of the department.
Motor officers lead a funeral procession down Sepulveda Boulevard for Manhattan Beach Police Officer Mark Vasquez in 2011. Photo by Andrew Amacher
The marchers also remembered Manhattan Beach Police Officer Mark Vasquez, who died on Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15, 2011. Vasquez joined the Manhattan Beach Police Department in 2005. In 2007, he was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma. His fellow offices nicknamed him “Superman” for the upbeat spirit he exhibited at work while fighting the disease.
The 8th Annual Mark Vasquez Memorial Blood Drive was to have been held Friday May 22, but has been cancelled because of the coronavirus social distancing orders. ER