The Cleveland Police Museum is honored to tell the stories of our Fallen Officers on the anniversaries of their End of Watch.
Harold Cooper Carroll (Blondie to his friends) was appointed a Cleveland Police Patrolman on March 12, 1938 and assigned Badge Number 1016. Upon completing the Police Academy, he was assigned to the 11th Precinct and later transferred to motorcycle duty. He requested a leave of absence and joined the United States Navy on December 15, 1942.
Chief Machinist’s Mate Carroll served in the Atlantic and the Aleutian Islands before going to the Pacific Ocean theater. It was at Okinawa that his destroyer was attacked by kamikazes and he was killed, two weeks before the end of the war.
His Naval Citation reads, in part, “Chief Machinist’s Mate Harold Cooper Carroll was awarded the Silver Star (posthumously) for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while in charge of the engine room aboard the USS Isherwood in the Ryukyu Islands. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself.”
Patrolman Carroll was survived by his wife Margaret, his mother Emma, his brothers Frank and Raymond, and his sisters Nor and Helen. He was laid to rest in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii and is included in the Cleveland Police Department Fallen Officers Badge Case.
