EMMITSBURG, Md. -- Seeing her husband recognized at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial on Sunday was overwhelming, Veronica Villalobos-Pogue said.
"It's very hard because you know the only reason that you are here is because you lost them, so you'd rather not be here while you are sitting there. It's very mixed, but it's a great honor," Villalobos-Pogue said, clutching a folded flag and a single red rose she received during the ceremony.
Oak Grove Fire District No. 25 Chief Randall R. Pogue, 49, died on Feb. 19 from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident while responding to an accident on Feb. 2. His name, and the names of four other Arkansas firefighters who died in the line of duty last year, were added to the National Memorial on Sunday.
"It was important to be here to represent him and to honor him," Villalobos-Pogue said. "He was a huge part of our lives and the community and it's in his memory."
Drizzling rain and the threat of inclement weather drove the annual event from the memorial site where it is normally held to an auditorium at nearby Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Md. The thousands of attendees included families of the 87 deceased firefighters from around the country whose names were added to the memorial and members of the affected fire departments.
Only New York (11), New Jersey (8), and Ohio (6) had more firefighters added to the memorial in 2014 than Arkansas.
The other Arkansans are:
• Poyen Fire Department Captain Dennis A. Channell, 55, who suffered a stroke on Feb. 9, after responding to an EMS call. He died on Feb. 10.
• Arkansas Forestry Commission Pilot Jacob T. Harrell, 33, who died in a plane crash on Jan. 31, while on a fire detection flight during multiple wildfires.
• Dermott Fire Department Assistant Chief JB Hutton Jr., 77, who collapsed and died on the scene of a grass fire on Oct. 1.
• Trumann Fire Department Chief Ricky L. Winkles Sr., 53, who collapsed and died at the scene of a grass fire on Jan. 28.
Like many Arkansas firefighters, Channell, Hutton and Pogue were volunteers.
With the five names added from 2014, there have been 30 Arkansas firefighters' names added to the memorial in the last 20 years, according to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
The memorial is sponsored by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Fire Administration. Families received flags flown over the U.S. Capitol and the National Memorial.
Members of the fire service and honor guard units from across the country formed a "sea of blue" carrying the folded flags and escorting families to the stage. Several pipe and drum units played in unison, filling the auditorium with the sound of bagpipes and the booms of mallets striking bass drums.
President Barack Obama called the 87 firefighters "extraordinary Americans. They set an example for us all."
"It's hard to think of a more selfless profession than firefighting," Obama said. "Imagine what it takes to put on that heavy coat, and that helmet, and override the natural human instinct for self-preservation, and run into danger as others are running away; to literally walk through fire knowing that you might never make it out because you're trying to save people that are strangers."
Afterward, Obama unveiled the plaque with firefighters' names that will be installed at the memorial. He stayed for an hour to greet each family as they came forward to receive a flag. He hugged several of the women who had traveled from Arkansas and patted men on the back.
Villalobos-Pogue said the president expressed condolences for their loss as he shook hands and hugged Pogue's four adult children.
"You're just kind of in a fog, it just happens so fast," she said of the brief conversation.
Retired Pine Village Fire Chief Larry J. Brewer traveled to see the ceremony with his sons, Vilonia volunteer firefighter Ronnie Brewer and Camp Robinson firefighter Benjamin Brewer.
Larry Brewer, who works with the Arkansas State Firefighters Association and the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters Board, said he and Pogue were good friends.
"I thought the world of him," Brewer said. "It hurt me real bad when he died."
Metro on 10/05/2015