Elwood Hemphill has seen many amazing things in his lifetime.

Hemphill, also known as “Bucky,” is a 77-year-old retired police officer for the Niles Police Department.

“I was a policeman for 15 years, ” he said.

Hemphill said he was inspired to become a police officer by someone in his neighborhood.

“I used to live across from the police department on Broadway, and I always lived close to the captain, Ray Crocker. I got to know him, and he encouraged me to join,” Hemphill said.

Hemphill had a very humble beginning when he first became a police officer.

“I started out as a sergeant riding a three-wheeled motorcycle, in charge of checking parking meters, ” he said.

But before he became an officer, Hemphill has a very successful career in the Marines.

“I graduated from high school and then worked at Montgomery Ward for two or three weeks. I went home and told my mom that I wasn’t getting anywhere at that job, ” he said. “so I went to South Bend with a friend, and we saw a sign about the Marine Corp.”

Hemphill had left home the same day he enlisted in the Marines.

“I called home, and told my mom that I was getting ready to get on a bus to go to Paris Island in South Carolina to Marine corp boot camp for 13 weeks,” he said. “While I was there, I was on a battleship called the USS Newport.”

During his time in the marines, Hemphill had the opportunity to travel all over the world.

“I was in the Korean War in 1950,” he said.

But being a Marine was not always easy. Hemphill said he remembers a time when his job was very dangerous.

“It would get to 40 or 50 degrees below zero, ” he said, “and we didn’t have any gloves. It would get so cold we had to use dynamite to blow a hole in order to keep warm. And we didn’t have the equipment to be able to do our job. ”

Even though his job sometimes brought hardships, it also brought rewards.

“I went to Rome and had a chance to meet the Pope, ” he said. “He blessed me with the original rosaries and a picture of him in a metal box, and I’m not even Catholic. It was such an honor to have. Not many people actually have a rosary that the Pope himself blessed. ”

A year later, Hemphill got out of the Marines and became a police officer.

“I got out of the Marines in 1952, and joined the police department in 1953,” he said.

Hemphill said the process for a person to become a police was much easier in 1952 than it is today.

“There were no requirements in order to become a police officer,” he said. “All a person had to do was go before the safety board, and if the board liked them, the person went to police academy. But the process is better today than it was in 1952, because back then, we were hired as a person. Today, you have to be hired as a police officer. ”

Hemphill took pride in his work as a police officer

“I don’t think people realize we have one of the best communities in Berrien County, ” he said.

Hemphill learned something during his time as an officer.

“Whenever I walked up to a car, and if I knew it was a minor violation, I wouldn’t give them a ticket,” he said. “I would just give them a warning. Police officers today think that every time they walk up to a car they need to give them a ticket. Sometimes they don’t use good judgment. “