COLUMBIA, SC (WBTW) – The South Carolina Department of Transportation unveiled a wall adorned with names of workers who have died while on the job.
A ceremony was held Friday in Columbia to showcase the wall. The names of men and women dating back to the 1920s are on the wall, which is located in front of SCDOT Headquarters, 955 Park St., in Columbia.
Gov. Henry McMaster, Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall and SCDOT Commission Chairman Ben H. Davis, Jr. were among the speakers.
“Just know that we are here today to wrap our arms around you…I’ve got your back. We’re family,” Secretary Hall told families of fallen employees.
The Memorial honors SCDOT employees killed while working on the highways as well as those who died on the job from natural causes. During the ceremony, each of the 83 names was read aloud and a bell was rung after each name.
Leland Colvin, SCDOT Deputy Secretary for Engineering, said he was overwhelmed at the hundreds of people who attended the ceremony.
“I am honestly overwhelmed by the show of support from all of the families, friends, guests and employees of SCDOT that are gathered here with us today,” Colvin said.
Robert Webb joined Secretary Hall and Governor McMaster to lay a wreath at the memorial. Webb, an employee in SCDOT’s Traffic Engineering Division, lost his father, Edsel C. Webb on November 17, 1969. Mr. Edsel Webb was an employee in the SCDOT Greenville Maintenance office at the time of his death.
