GREENSBORO, N.C. — Over 700 people from across the state came to be a part of the memorial ride for Sgt. Dale Philip Nix on Jan. 14. Nix was killed while attempting to stop a crime at a Sheetz convenience store near Greensboro. 

“He knew the difference between right and wrong, and he intervened, and that is a hero,” Nathan Sheppard, founder of Operation Fly Our Flag said to the crowd of people at the gathering.

Sheppard holds these memorial rides after the death of a law enforcement officer. 

“We want to do this today, just to honor the life and the sacrifice that Sgt. Dale Nix made,” Sheppard said. “This is our way of doing it and you know, I was really drawn to his story as a person. His whole family is first responders. And he was the one that went into law enforcement and unfortunately, you know, he gave his life for it.”

Greensboro police, Nix’s wife and son and many more came out to the memorial ride to honor Nix’s sacrifice. 

Sheppard’s wife, Kayla, is a part of Operation Fly our Flag. She serves as the director of sales and merchandising and said the ride on Jan. 14 was the biggest one they’ve done. 

Sheppard has participated in four of these rides and said the family of the fallen officers have never been in the convoy until Jan 14.

“I was doing the last minute pre-orders that we had coming in and literally, like second to last order was Kelly Nix,” Kelly Sheppard said. “I immediately got emotional at just the prospect of her coming out and seeing all of these people come and support her and her family and to appreciate what she’s going through that we could show her all of this love.”