In December 2016, two police officers were out on a call but ended up entering a home at the wrong address. While that can be a dangerous situation, this time it was meant to be.

We don’t know any other details except what was in a short post sent to Ohio Going Blue, a Facebook group dedicated to supporting police officers. But we know the two officers involved met a very special woman in that home.

In their post, they said they “stumbled across” a beautiful tree, of which they posted two photos. It was decorated in blue and silver and each and every ornament had a name and an E.O.W. date on it.

E.O.W. stands for “end of watch,” and is used when referring to the date of death of a police officer who was killed in the line of duty.

The woman called it the “Tree of Honor.” The officers called it a “wonderful tribute.”

And her sweet gesture didn’t stop there. She not only had the name of every officer killed in the line of duty on those glimmering bulbs, but of every fallen K9 as well on smaller ornaments dotting the tree.

What an amazing coincidence that two police officers would see it during a simple erroneous stop. Even more so since the woman had only finished the tree the night before.

Of course, there are plenty of people who think the accidental discovery was made up, but most commenters seemed to believe the story.

We assume the tree and officers were in Ohio since it was posted to an Ohio-based Facebook page, but the officers chose to remain anonymous and keep the rest of the details to themselves.

Their post said only:

“What a wonderful tribute:

Partner and I accidentally went to the wrong address today on a run and stumbled across this beautiful tree. The owner took the time to write down every Officer killed in the line of duty this year and place it on the tree. Not only did she do all the Humans but she included all the K9s on the small ornaments. She calls it the “Tree of Honor” guess our paths were meant to cross since she just finished it last night.

Anonymous officer”

The Officer Down Memorial Page keeps track of law enforcement officers and K9 deaths in the line of duty. There were 5 officer fatalities in Ohio in 2016. But around the country, there were a total of 175 (166 men and 9 women) plus 36 K9 fatalities. That includes all law enforcement agencies, including federal.

Officers aren’t always killed by criminals while on duty, of course. But in 2016, a stunning 67 deaths were due to gunfire, 3 of them inadvertent shots.

The second most common cause of death listed as 9/11-related illness, respecting the first responders who were stricken with things like respiratory and pulmonary diseases; those killed 23 officers in 2016. Other common causes of death included traffic accidents and heart attacks while on the job.

Officers who were killed had an average age of just 43 years old and an average of 14 years and 9 months on the job.

Among K9s, the leading causes of death were gunfire and heat exhaustion (sadly, keeping dogs in hot cars has been common among police officers as well as civilians).

You can see all the causes of death as well as the fallen officers from 2016 here. And click here for this year’s bleak statistics.

Officers have the stories surrounding their deaths, as well as their ages, badge numbers, years on the force, and veteran statuses listed. Information about any charges resulting from their deaths can be found on the page as well.

As for the “Tree of Honor,” this year it might be getting a minimum of 123 ornaments; 102 for officers and 21 for K9s that have died in the line of duty so far.

Be sure to scroll down below to see the original Facebook post and its comments.

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Source: Ohio Going Blue via Facebook, Officer Down Memorial Page