By Karenlyn Barone
But, Wally Stembler remembers. Stembler, 99, was a member of that select force many, many years ago, and last week he was honored by the Nassau County Police Department.
Stembler became an East Rockaway police officer in 1929. He was assigned to the motorcycle patrol, where he served proudly, patrolling the streets of the village until 1939. At that point, the small but efficient unit was absorbed by the Nassau County Police Department, and all of its members became officers of that department.
Stembler then worked in the Fourth Precinct, headquartered in Hewlett, for the Communications Bureau and the Property Clerks Office. He retired in 1951, at age 45, and eventually moved to Florida.
Last week, the retired officer, who will turn 100 in January, returned to Long Island, and to the headquarters of the Nassau County Police Department in Mineola. There he reminisced about the good old days on the force, and was honored by Police Commissioner James Lawrence, Chief of Detectives Herbert Faust and Deputy Chief of Detectives Paul Tully. At the meeting, which officers described as sentimental, Faust presented Stembler with his original shield, No. 228.
"The shield had been in the Property Bureau since Stembler turned it in upon his retirement," said officer Doug Stiegelmaier of the George F. Maher Police Museum in Mineola. "Faust had them look for it, and there is was."
