'We don't want to forget our guys.' Retired police officer paints stones to be placed at graves of first responders

Well, they made the ultimate sacrifice. Now a retired NASA officer is making sure they're not forgotten by painting rocks in their honor. News 12's Cecilia Dowd has the story from the cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury. We can't forget. Every year, Frank DiResto paints stones, lots of them. They're for first responders who suffered line-of-duty deaths. We put them on the headstones or at the base of the headstone to mark every grave so that people know, so that the families know we were there. It started out with Nassau police officers and village officers in the county, and then it expanded. I don't think police officers get the respect anymore that they used to. I mean, during 9-11, Go cops, we're so proud of you. Now it's... Completely swung the other way. It's Frank's mission to keep the memories of the fallen alive. Fred Hirsch was the first officer shot and killed in the line of duty. He was murdered. His gravesite, like all the others, gets a new stone each year. Frank says last year alone, he painted more than 160 stones. For FDNY, NYPD, Port Authority, Nassau cops, Suffolk cops, village cops. He estimates he's painted more than 600 rocks in total. Detective Artie Lopez's gravesite is adorned with Frank's rocks. Detective Lopez was shot and killed in 2014. His mom saw the stones at a memorial service for her son last month. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. They keep that beautiful. Every year I come, every year it's more beautiful. We can't forget what these people did for us, for everybody. Cecilia Dowd, News 12.