Why fallen first-responders often get a final musical serenade from the bagpipes
Fallen Horry County police officer Melton Gore’s funeral was the third service that Dennis Ryan has played the bagpipes at with the Wilmington Police Pipes and Drums since the beginning of the year.
“I haven’t done this many funerals since 9/11,” Ryan said.
The band of about 15 lead the procession that brought Gore’s casket into Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Wednesday. The funeral closed with the band’s rendition of Amazing Grace.
In the last three weeks, Ryan also played at the funerals of North Myrtle Beach police sergeant William Best and Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Price. Both officers were killed in car wrecks in the line of duty.
The somber, meditative music of the bagpipes is a long-standing tradition at first-responder funerals thanks to early Irish immigrants, who faced discrimination in America and were often relegated to tough and dangerous jobs like police officers and firefighters.
Ryan retired in 2003 from the Washington Township Police Department in New Jersey and comes from a long line of Irish police officers and firefighters. He first got into music playing in a church band and has been playing the bagpipes for 25 years.
Ryan said the bagpipes bring “more somber of a tone to the ceremony, a bit of elegance to the ceremony.”
Musicians honor ‘a cop forever’
The Wilmington Police Pipes and Drums, founded in 2000, is the oldest police department pipe band in North Carolina.
“When you’re a cop, you’re a cop forever. I had a great-uncle that was killed in the line of duty,” Ryan said. “If someone gives their life for their country or their community, we want to be there to honor them.”
The band is a division of the Wilmington Police Department, and is made up of current and former police officers. The band members wear police uniform shirts with their kilts.
Ryan said the band brings about a sense of camaraderie among those who have served as police officers.
“We’ve all seen a lot of bad stuff. A lot of people don’t understand all the time what we’ve seen,” he said. “It gives us a chance to get together.”
Ryan said the band typically plays at first-responder funerals “within a couple hours” of Wilmington, NC.
“In Jersey, New York, most of Pennsylvania, cops don’t get buried without pipers at their funeral,” Ryan said. “That’s just a staple, just like they put them in a casket.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 5:39 PM with the headline "Why fallen first-responders often get a final musical serenade from the bagpipes."
