Henry Joseph “Hank” Daly – Sergeant, United States Marine Corps Detective, Washington Metropolitan Police

Press Report: 27 November 1994: 

Henry J. Daly, a storied homicide detective with nearly 3 decades on the DC police force, and Michael J. Miller, an FBI agent who turned from practicing law to enforcing it, were carried to their graves yesterdayin separate funeral processions, each miles long and awash ingrief for 2 victims of a gunman’s unexplained rage.

Daly, 51,known as “Hank,” was “a larger than life character,” as his brother, Michael, put it yesterday – a 28-year member of the force who could have retired long ago, a dogged investigator who loved his work and a hero and mentor to younger detectives. Hundreds of mourners, including Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly, crowded his funeral in Falls Church, four days after Daly died in a spray of gunfire in DC police headquarters.

Meanwhile,in Mitchellville, Maryland, Miller, 41, was eulogized at his funeral as a dedicated husband and father who resigned from the FBI to practice law and spend more time with his family,and who then rejoined the bureau because “law enforcement was in his blood. It was his calling,” the Reverend Bruce C.Salmon, of Village Baptist Church, told hundreds of mourners, including FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno.

In Falls Church, St Phillip’s Catholic Church was filled to capacity with relatives and friends of Daly and with police officers from as far away as Philadelphia and Norfolk. Dozens of others stood outside in the chilly air, listening to the ceremony through loudspeakers. Before Daly,a former Marine, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the funeral procession of nearly 500 vehicles, led by more than 50 police motorcycles,rolled into the District for a ceremonial drive-by of theslain officer’s last duty post – police headquarters at 300Indiana Avenue, NW. That was where he, Miller and FBI agent Martha Dixon Martinez, 35, were slain Tuesday.

In Pittsburgh,where Dixon-Martinez is to be buried tomorrow, friends and relatives – including her parents and 8 siblings, 6 of whom still live in their hometown – gathered for her wake. The 3 officers were members of the department’s “Cold Case Squad,” a task force of DC homicide detectives and FBI agents assigned to investigate long-unsolved slayings. Police said Bennie Lee Lawson, 25, of Northeast Washington, DC, entered the squad’soffices and opened fire with compact assault weapon. Lawson, who also died, apparently shot himself, law enforcement sources said. A longtime friend and associated of Daly’s, police Captain William Hennessy, the commander of the homicide unit, described Daly as a legend. “There is no greater challenge or responsibility than to investigate the death of another human being and when that death involves foul play, bringing the responsible party to justice, “Hennessy said at the funeral. “Hank was one of the best investigators. To many, he was a father figure; to others he was a big brother. We all looked up to Hank. We all leaned on him.”

In St Phillip’s Church, where nearly 30 DC police detectives served as honorary pallbearers for Daly’s coffin, the Reverend Salvatore Criscuolo told mourners that districtofficers with whom he has spoken since Tuesday were confused and angered by the shooting but felt proud for having known Daly.” They want to know where you can be safe, if not safe at work,” said Criscuolo, a police chaplain. “I am not here to answer any questions today. I am going to talk about life today and eternal life.”

Police Chief Fred Thomas said of Daly and the slain FBI agents: “It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is the way that they lived.” Daly, who joined the police force in 1966 after his discharge from the USMC, was the driving force behind the cold case squad’s creation in 1991, officials said. His brother, Michael Daly, a Metro transit police lieutenant, and his brother’s wife, Mary Anne, and their son and daughter, Steven and Elizabeth Anne, were honored that hundreds of people attended yesterday’s funeral. He said his family was”standing tall and proud” for the man who was a husband, father, son and brother. As Michael Daly was returning to his seat, he turned toward his brother’s coffin, placed a hand over his heart and paused for a moment.

Daly rests in Section 60, Grave 7834 of Arlington National Cemetery.

Sadly, be has become one of the points of controversy concerning the waivers for burial in Arlington National Cemetery issued by the Clinton Administration, reports of which appeared widely in the press in November 1997.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard