Forty years after a collision claimed the life of one of their own, Georgia State Patrol troopers gathered to remember a fallen comrade.

Trooper Ronnie O’Neal was only 39 years old when he was killed after a van being pursued by troopers and sheriff ’s deputies intentionally collided with his patrol vehicle. O’Neal lost control of his own vehicle as a result.

“It was probably one of the most traumatic events of my career,” said former Georgia State Patrol Post 11 commander Jon Long. “He was a great family man. He loved his wife and children. That always made an impression on me.”

The wreck occurred in the early morning of January 10, 1984, and troopers gathered at his grave in Hinesville City Cemetery to remember him.

“Ronnie was one of what I thought was the older guys,” said Long, who was just out of trooper school at the time. “I always looked up to him. He was definitely a leader. He was doing what he could to serve and protect his community and he died as a result of it. He literally gave his life for the state of Georgia and the surrounding communities.”

O’Neal also is memorialized along I-95, as an overpass spanning the highway in Liberty County is named in his honor.