Police officers, fire fighters, sheriff’s deputies, Oregon State Police and other law enforcement members from throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and California attended a memorial service Sunday, April 26, for Coos County Sheriff’s Deputy Gil Datan who lost his life in an ATV accident while patrolling a rural area southeast of Coos Bay Monday, April 20. Deputy Datan was a Forest Patrol Deputy. Escorted in the air by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, the procession began near the Mill Casino/Hotel on Hwy. 101, proceeded south into Coos Bay, west on Elrod by the Coos Bay Fire Dept., 10th to Ocean Blvd., Wallace St., Newmark, Oak St. by the softball fields, to Virginia, Broadway south to 16th and then into a corridor of supporters towered by a giant American flag hung from North Bend Fire Dept. ladder trucks. The parking lot at the high school overflowed early and the streets were soon filled as the Celebration of Life for Coos County Sheriff’s Deputy Gil Datan took place in the gymnasium.
