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479. Law Enforcement Memories

Updated: Mar 21, 2022

In photo #1 is Officer Earl Ralph Doll (1909-1972) who was born in Coopersburg, PA on January 31, 1909, the son of Sylvester Jacob Doll (1876-1938) and Sarah Jane Moyer (1876-1963). Earl would marry in Coopersburg, PA to Florence Regina Getter (1914-1953). At the time, he was a partner with his father in the poultry business. By 1940, he was living at 31 South Spring Street in Pensacola and working as a Pensacola Police Officer. He had married Emma Cornelia Merriweather (1922-12005) in Pensacola on April 8, 1940. Earl would enlist in the US Army on December 31, 1942 at Camp Blanding, Florida and served during WWII from 1942-1945 with the 186th Ordnance Battalion. His battalion would eventually be deployed with Patton's 3rd Army. He arrived in England in October 1943 and was stationed in Aintree, Lancashire. During the Battle of Normandy, Doll ran across his old motorcycle buddy from the police department William Earl "Red" Dickson (mentioned in above article) Dickson was with an ordnance unit while Doll was with the infantry. With enemy bullets and shells screamed overhead the two buds ignored them and caught up with the news from home! Both would return from the war in October 1945 and returned to their duties at the Police Department. He would pass away on May 31, 1972 as a retired PPD Captain after retiring in 1968. He was laid to rest in St. John's Cemetery. (Pensacola News Journal 11-2-1948)


Also in this photo is motorcycle Sergeant Charles Allen Miller (1910-1992) who began his career as a civilian watchman at a fish house and would retire a police captain.


In photo #2 is Deputy Sheriff Leo Basil Maher Jr. (1919-1985) who was born in Pensacola, Florida on January 1, 1919, the son of Leo B. Sr. (1894-1956) and Eugenia Marie Gonzalez (1894-1972). His father supported the family as a painter and by 1940 Leo Jr. was working for the Goldring Wholesale Liquor company at 121 West Wright Street. At the time, he was living with his parents at 1520 East Brainard Street. The following year he married Eula McCauley (1923-1997) in Milton, Florida on July 8, 1941. After the war began, he enlisted in the US Army artillery on April 29, 1943 at Camp Blanding, Florida and received his discharge in August the same year. Leo would join the Pensacola Police Department before moving to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. Somewhere in there, he was also with the Florida Highway Patrol. He ran for the political position of constable in 1948 against incumbent Gilbert Ward but lost. In 1956, he left the sheriff's office to become a professional bondsmen. He would pass away on October 30, 1985 and was buried in Ray's Chapel Cemetery. Pensacola News Journal 8-28-1956


The second officer in the photo is Oro Addison Carver (1914-1982) who was born in Denver, Colorado on February 28, 1914. He enlisted in the US Navy as a teenager on September 3, 1929 and would retire in Pensacola on March 31, 1950 as a LTJG and a veteran of WWII. By 1960, he had left the sheriff's office and was employed at NAS Civil Service. He would pass away on April 14, 1982 and was buried in Barrancas Cemetery.

































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