Published: August 19, 2008 03:30 pm         

State Department to Honor Rudy Mesa

Former SMPD officer killed in Iraq in 20

Former San Marcos Police Officer Rudy Mesa, who was killed in action in Iraq in 2006, will be honored Saturday by the U.S. Department of State

Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and DynCorp International.

The special ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday 2008 at the San Marcos Police Department, 2300 IH-35 South.

Welcoming the dignitaries will be Police Chief Howard Williams at a ceremony to recognize Mesa's courage, honor and commitment.

Mayor Susan Narvaiz will offer words of commemoration in memory of Officer Mesa.

Bill Brencick, director of the Office of Iraq Program, make a special address and present a plaque to Velia Mesa, widow of Officer Mesa, and

Mesa's family.

Richard Cashon, vice president-Law Enforcement of DynCorp International, will present a posthumous Valor Award for Rudy Mesa to Mrs. Mesa.

Officer Phil Jackson, vice president of the San Marcos Police Officers Association, will announce an endowment for the Rudy Mesa Memorial

Endowed Scholarship at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Other family members participating in the ceremony in addition to Mrs. Mesa will be Lucy Rigby and Velia Anita Mesa, daughters; Gabriella

Rigby, granddaughter; Xavier Rigby, grandson; Silvia Mesa and Rosa Mesa, sisters; Raymond and Eddie Mesa, brothers.

The San Marcos Police Officers Association has submitted Rudy Mesa's name to the San Marcos Independent School District to name a new

elementary school in his memory.

Retired San Marcos Police Officer Rudy Mesa was killed by a roadside bomb near Rustamiyah, Iraq, on May 8, 2006 at the age of 56 while on

duty with DynCorp International, a company training Iraqi police officers under contract to the U.S. Department of State.

Mesa, a veteran of 12 years with the San Marcos Police Department, retired in March, 2006 to serve as a police trainer in Iraq with DynCorp

International. He had been in Iraq just over a month when he was killed.

To date, more than 6,000 American police officers have participated in Civilian Police Program and International Police Advisor missions with

DynCorp International working in many countries including Liberia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Bosnia, East Timor, Sudan, Haiti and Iraq.

     

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