memorial plaque

One of three local law enforcement officers killed in a shootout on a warm, humid night July 25, 1974 is being honored with a commemorative plaque.
Walter Thomason Hembree was an auxiliary policeman with the Henryetta police department that night. His name is inscribed on a special plaque that will be placed at the Henryetta police department after it was presented to chief Steve Norman Tuesday.
Hembree, who was born in 1913, left his wrecker service to accompany then Henryetta police chief Richard Larney in a search for a man who had already killed a Dewar city marshall.
The hour of terror started shortly before midnight when Dewar marshall Thomas C. Adkins stopped a pickup. The driver of that truck, later identified as Darrell Andrews, 20, fired a shot at Adkins missing him then, when the officer was retreating back to his vehicle, Andrews shot him in the back, killing him.
A teenager riding with Adkins, ran to a home and reported the incident.
Andrews was found hiding at a residence in Schulter a short time later. Thats when Larney and Hembree arrived at the scene. As they approached the house, Andrews wassail to have slipped around a corner of the home and shot at both officers with his shotgun. The blast struck Hembree in the head killing him while a second shot struck Larney in his side, arm and leg.
Okmulgee County deputy Sheriff Burton Brewer and Morris Police officer Buck Grace arrived at the home then Andrews stood up from some tall grass and shot Brewer in the face fatally wounding him. Officer Grace returned fire striking Andrews wounding him and putting an end to the carnage.
“This is the lest we can do to remember and honor a fallen officer,” said Bill Goodner. He said the plaque was purchased with some of the money raised last year to replace the veterans plaques at the doughboy statue.
Chief Norman said eventual plans call for a lighted monument to be constructed at the police department honoring Hembree.
The killer was sentenced to two life terms and is currently behind bars at the Lexington Correctional Center.