Kentucky State Police will soon be honoring a fallen trooper who was killed in the line of duty in 1973 in Christian County.
Post Two Public Affairs Officer Trooper Rob Austin says Trooper Joseph Ward Jr., died on April 23, 1973, after being struck by a vehicle. Ward was investigating a vehicle collision when he pushed someone out of the path of an oncoming vehicle on Pennyrile Parkway. Trooper Ward was assigned to Post Two in Madisonville and was a four-year veteran of the Kentucky State Police.
In honor of his service and sacrifice, U.S. 25 from Dry Ridge Road to Kentucky 491 in Grant County, close to where he is buried, was designated the “Trooper Joseph Ward Jr. Memorial Highway”.
In May 2011, Debbie Ward accepted the Governor’s Medal of Valor on behalf of her brother-in-law. The award is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an officer of the agency for heroism in the line of duty under circumstances of extreme personal hazard.
Trooper Ward and Trooper Cecil Uzzle, who was killed in a collision in Pike County, will both be honored Wednesday morning, May 15 at 10:00 at the cemetery at Salem Missionary Baptist Church in White Plains.
