Shot and killed in the pursuit of poachers, Utah's first game warden to die in the line of duty had his body abandoned in the salt marshes for a week before it was discovered.
That was the first indignity for Deputy Game Warden Ernest Berry, who was murdered in 1914 while enforcing hunting restrictions near the Great Salt Lake.
His body was so badly decomposed that he received a hasty burial in Mount Olivet Cemetery. The anonymity of his sacrifice would persist decade after decade as his body lay in an unmarked grave.
On Wednesday, law enforcement officers paid tribute to Berry's legacy and undid the years of an untold story with a 21-gun salute, the playing of "Taps" and ceremonial performances by the Division of Wildlife Resources honor guard.
An engraved image of a badge and the words "All give some and some give all" grace his headstone.
"It's really been an emotional experience," said Capt. John Pratt with the Department of Natural Resources. "He needed to be remembered."
Berry, an immigrant from Switzerland and veteran of the Spanish-American War, is the only game warden in Utah to have died in the line of duty as the victim of violence done by another, according to Pratt. Two others died while on duty — one of a heart attack and another after he was hit by a train — but Berry occupies a singular spot. His photo, along with the two others, hangs in the hallway of the state agency.
"I've looked at his picture many a time," Pratt said.
The little-known story of Berry's shotgun slaying caught the attention of Robert Kirby, vice president and historian of the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial. An ardent devotee of ensuring Utah's fallen officers get due recognition, the Salt Lake Tribune columnist was perusing the paper's archives last year when he came across a story about Berry's death.
It was news to Kirby, who has been actively involved in chronicling deaths of Utah's officers since the early 1990s.
The phones started to light up. Kirby was at Mount Olivet Cemetery and was startled that no headstone marked the spot where records said the officer was buried.
Joint efforts by the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial and Utah Conservation Officers Association resulted in the headstone and culminated with Wednesday's memorial service.
"We wanted to give him the rights and recognition he so deserved," said association president Stacey Jones, a sergeant with the Department of Natural Resources.
Kirby said the mission of the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial is to make sure each fallen officer's grave is appropriately marked and recognized with a headstone and that descendants are notified that recognition has finally come — even if it is years later.
Honoring Berry, however, has been bittersweet because of the inability to track down living relatives.
His widow has since died, as well as two of his children.
Kirby said the other two children are "in the wind" — out there somewhere.
e-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com