The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum is honoring 4 new inductees to have a good time the 2 hundredth anniversary of the Texas Rangers. This instance is particularly noteworthy as a result of two of the brand new Rangers are nonetheless alive; all earlier inductees have been venerated posthumously. The 4 honorees are retired Texas Rangers Sgt. John Martin and Sgt. Johnnie Earl Aycock, as smartly as Col. Homer Garrison Jr., who died in 1968, and Capt. James Frank “Pete” Rogers, who died in 1978.
To mark the instance, Waco hosted a two-day birthday party, the Texas Ranger (*4*) BBQ Cookoff, on the Base on the Extraco Events Center. These occasions are section of a sequence of celebrations operating from January to November, together with “HQ Bicentennial Week” in Austin. According to Russell Molina, chair of the Texas Rangers 2 hundredth anniversary birthday party, the historical past of the Texas Rangers is the epitome of Texas’ personal historical past.
Sgt. John Martin was once the primary energetic Texas Ranger in Texas to be certified by means of the FBI as a felony profiler. He attended the National Forensic Academy of the University of Tennessee ahead of proposing the advent of a criminal offense scene investigations running team whilst a Texas Ranger. This proposal was once licensed, and he went directly to create the Advanced Crime Scene Training Program, which provided Texas Rangers with the most efficient crime scene processing equipment, together with the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, Combined DNA Identification System, and the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. Martin was once born in Georgia in 1963, spent 5 years with the company doing behavioral research paintings, and retired from the Texas Rangers in 2007.
Sgt. Johnnie Earl Aycock additionally served in the U.S. army ahead of his occupation in the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Aycock rescued two kids from separate kidnappings, receiving a DPS Medal of Valor for every rescue. He turned into a Texas Ranger in 1983 and retired in 2001 after serving 18 years with the DPS.
Col. Homer Garrison Jr. lived from 1901 to 1968 and had a storied occupation, together with serving as director of DPS and leader of the Texas Rangers. Under Garrison’s management, DPS evolved a large number of methods and services and products such as police site visitors supervision, driving force licensing, automobile inspection, protection training, and crisis services and products. During World War II, Garrison was once presented by means of Gen. Douglas MacArthur an appointment to reorganize and supervise the Japanese nationwide police gadget, which he declined to proceed his paintings in Texas.
Capt. James Frank “Pete” Rogers, who lived from 1922 to 1978, served as a fighter pilot all through World War II. He turned into a Texas Highway Patrolman in 1947 and a DPS pilot investigator in 1951. In 1958, Rogers was once promoted to sergeant in the Texas Rangers and led Company C in Lubbock. Rogers is maximum remembered for serving to to finish a 1974 Huntsville Prison siege, main an attack to loose hostages after an 11-day standoff.
The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum celebrates the historical past of one of probably the most well known regulation enforcement companies in the sector. The new inductees to the Hall of Fame serve as a testomony to the legacy of the Texas Rangers and the women and men who served in the company, each previous and provide.