Andrews – N.C. Highway Patrolman Charles Galloway was 29, and Patrolman Joseph Davis was just 22, when they were killed in an aircraft accident shortly after takeoff at then-named Andrews-Murphy Airport on May 3, 1948.
More than 77 years later, Galloway’s sacrifice was commemorated with a bridge named in his honor on U.S. 19 Business, over Junaluska Creek on the eastern edge of Andrews.
Two families showed up for the bridge dedication ceremony at Beaver Creek Freewill Baptist Church on Beaver Creek Road on Friday afternoon – his blood relatives, niece Karyl Foster of Gastonia and granddaughter Amber Galloway of Marshal; and 18 uniformed state troopers whose careers are steeped in the sacrifices of comrades, including Galloway, who have died in the line of duty.
The N.C. Highway Patrol Retirees Association said there have been 70 deaths in the line of duty since the patrol was established in 1929. Highway Patrol Maj. William Moore II, guest speaker at Friday’s bridge dedication, said about 20 of the 70 were never properly recognized with bridge dedications, including Galloway.
The Highway Patrol and N.C. Department of Transportation have been working to dedicate bridges to the remaining fallen troopers/patrolmen on that list, Moore said, but the process takes time. Galloway’s honor was adopted by the DOT’s board in September 2024.
“The citizens of Cherokee County and the state of North Carolina are grateful for people like Patrolman Galloway who make the ultimate sacrifice to protect their families, friends and neighbors,” according to the state’s resolution.
The Officer Down Memorial Page says the two patrolman – today’s more preferred term “trooper” didn’t arrive until the late 1970s – were participating in a training exercise when their plane stalled 100 feet above ground and went into a spin, crashing 200 feet from the runway and killing both patrolman instantly.
Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. David Williams, who was a Highway Patrol trooper earlier in his law enforcement career, has a differing account. He said the two were using a borrowed airplane and headed to Hayesville in search of a fugitive.
Galloway, a World War II U.S Navy veteran, had been with the Highway Patrol for three years. Davis, also a Navy veterans of WWII, had been with the Highway Patrol for five months.
Galloway was born in Transylvania County in 1918. After World War II, he joined the Highway Patrol and served in Cherokee County for most of his three years, according to his death certificate. He left behind a 28-year-old wife and was buried at Lewis Memorial Park in Asheville.
Davis was born in 1925 in Webster, Jackson County. He was survived by his parents and was buried in Webster Cemetery.