Captain Roy Huskey of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department, born May 25, 1931, Trooper R.L. "Pete" Peterson of the N.C. State Highway Patrol, born January 29, 1942, and Sergeant Millard Owen Messersmith of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department, born June 20, 1920, were shot and killed in the line of duty in rural Rutherford County on May 31, 1979. Their sacrifice is honored with the words, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."