AMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Police, fire, ambulance, military, and more made their way to Jamestown for a memorial in honor of fallen Grand Forks Officer Cody Holte Sunday, June 13th.
Officer Holte lost his life on May 27th, 2020 while in the line of duty. At the same time, his friend Ryan Lindberg was having trees and shrubs planted on his property. It was then he learned of Holte losing his life.
Lindberg had served with Holte in the Jamestown-based 817th Engineer Company of the North Dakota National Guard. He felt it would be a great way to honor his friend by calling the recently planted trees and shrubs “Cody’s Grove”.
In a procession leading up to the brief ceremony, Linberg says they had numerous service men and women from across the state join them.
“We had about 30 members of the 817th engineer company that served with Cody or those that didn’t, that knew the importance of supporting the family and the event,” Lindberg stated. “We had agencies from all across ND attending. Sheriffs, Police Departments, BCI, Highway Patrol, Game and Fish, Fire Department, and more.”
“I don’t want to take the attention off the family, who were the most important attendants, but I do have to thank all the local and non-local agencies that attended. I had a ton of help building everything from friends and family to people I’ve never met before. We were all speechless with amount of squad cars that showed up.”
Lindberg understood that many were confused why the procession headed north near Buchanan, but once they arrived, many understood the meaning.
“All of us were beyond grateful to have Cody’s immediate family in attendance for such a crazy idea,” Lindberg added.
“In the end, it all made sense.”
Below are some photos courtesy of Jamie Dickerman of the procession.
