Sussex County EMS employee Thomas W. Berry III to be honored, laid to rest Aug. 22

Georgetown, Del., Aug. 15, 2024: Sussex County government and the community will join together to bid a final farewell to fallen EMS employee and volunteer firefighter Thomas Wilson Berry III, who was tragically lost while responding to a vehicle crash earlier this week.

Services for Mr. Berry are set for 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at Crossroad Community Church, located at the corner of State Forest Road and Seashore Highway west of Georgetown; friends, family, and those wishing to pay their respects may call from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the church.

Mr. Berry, a logistics technician with Sussex County EMS since 2022 and a volunteer firefighter with both the Ellendale and Georgetown fire companies, lost his life Tuesday, Aug. 13, moments after pulling a motorist from a car that had struck a utility pole along Lewes Georgetown Highway, east of Georgetown. He was 23 years old.

Mr. Berry will be memorialized with full firefighter honors. Following the service, a cadre of first responders and emergency units will escort the fallen hero in a procession to answer his 'final alarm', making its way from the church to the Georgetown Fire Company, followed by the County's Public Safety Complex, and then the Ellendale Volunteer Fire Company. Interment will be in the Ellendale Cemetery, at Ponder and Cemetery roads, in Ellendale.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to any local volunteer fire company.

Due to road closures and expected impacts to traffic in the area as a result of the procession, the County Administrative Offices building on The Circle will close to public business at 12 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22. The County complex will re-open to the public at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 23.

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