Tucson Region

'George loved the Patrol'

A color guard, a riderless horse and the mournful wail of bagpipes opened the U.S. Border Patrol's memorial Wednesday in Casa Grande for an agent killed in a one-vehicle crash on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. The memorial for George B. DeBates ended with a 21-gun salute and a last dispatch call, repeated three times over the crackling radios of agents in the auditorium of the Casa Grande Union High School. The somber ceremony recognized DeBates, 32, as the sixth agent from the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector killed in the line of duty since 1926. An emotional Carolyn DeBates, of Wisconsin, was presented with her son's badge and credentials as well as a ribbon bearing the name of her only child. The ribbon was placed on the Border Patrol banner, which also bears the names of agents Alexander Kirpnick, who was shot to death by drug traffickers in June 1998; William McKee, who was shot to death in April 1926; Victor Ochoa, who died in a crash in March 1983; Lon Parker, who was shot to death in July 1926; and George Pringle, who died in a crash in December 1940. John France, the sector's assistant chief patrol agent, sought to reassure Mrs. DeBates by telling her she was among the law enforcement family of which her son had been a part. "We all appreciate the devotion to duty and country, we all understand the exhilaration of the chase, arrest and pursuit … the perils and dangers," he said. "In the years to come, we'll be there for you." DeBates, who joined the Border Patrol in April 1999, was remembered by Shawn Brock, a Nogales patrol agent, as a blunt talker known for complaining about the work while enjoying it all the while. Brock said he wasn't surprised that DeBates returned to the agency after leaving to join the Air Marshals Service following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. DeBates returned to the Border Patrol in October 2003 and served as a senior patrol agent in the sector's Casa Grande station. "George loved the Patrol. We were the brothers and sisters he never had," said Brock. DeBates died Dec. 19. He was buried last week in Pikesville, Ky., in a funeral attended by many local agents. Wednesday's memorial was attended by about 150 Border Patrol agents and officers from several law enforcement agencies. The investigation into the cause of the crash that killed DeBates is continuing, said Andrea Zortman, a Border Patrol spokeswoman. The investigation is being conducted by the Tohono O'odham police and the Border Patrol's critical incidents unit, she said.