Nor was it the lofty words about duty and sacrifice.

The thing that tugged at my heartstrings was the look on the faces of the fallen cops' family members when they emerged from the muted light of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church into the sunlight.

The mamas, daddies, wives and children, the brothers and sisters, cousins and nephews of the six officers saluted for making the ultimate personal sacrifice last year were not hard to spot if you looked closely.

They squinted reflexively, as everyone did, but then they -- one and all -- resumed the slow, unsteady walk of the bereaved.

Small children looked uncomfortable in suits on a day better suited for running and laughing. Elderly parents walked a bit more slowly, their backs more bent, than when they'd entered the church for the North Carolina Peace Officers Memorial Day commemoration.

One older lady, escorted by and holding onto the arm of a ramrod-straight state trooper, faltered briefly as she walked past the honor guard of troopers lined up directly outside the church doors. It was hard to tell whether her unsteadiness was caused by the 80-degree-plus heat or her own grief -- until you looked into her face.

Then you knew: It was the grief.

I wanted to ask her to give voice to their sorrow but didn't. Intruding upon her grief at such a moment would have been loutish.

Several months have passed since the honored officers died, long enough for time to ease the pain. If only slightly.

Monday's service trumped time, though, and reawakened anguish. It did mine, and I didn't even know the officers.

Neither did Gale Buck, whose mournfully wailing bagpipes had some inside the church dabbing at their eyes. Buck has played at eight such observances for fallen officers, he said, and the tune that touched so many was an original piece. It's called "Peace Officers' Prayer."

"I wrote it for one of these events," he said. "I do it simply as a tribute to the officers."

As Durham County Sheriff Worth Hill read the names of the fallen officers, an officer solemnly stuck a red rose commemorating each of them onto a large white wreath.

The officers honored Monday were Glenn Harold Hicks of the Avery County Sheriff's Office, Toney Clayton Summey of the Randolph County Sheriff's Office, Anthony Greg Cogdill of the state Highway Patrol, William Franklin James II and Phil Owens, both of the Wake County Sheriff's Office, and John Fitzgerald Strickland of the Harnett County Sheriff's Office.

Cops have a thankless job, and time was -- back when the cops in Rockingham had my telephone number on speed dial even before speed dial was invented -- that I'd have been the last one to thank them.

After considering the sacrifices made by those honored Monday -- and by their families -- let me now be the first.

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