Two military policewomen, both killed in the line of duty in 1999, are being remembered May 13 during a ceremony at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Sgt. 1st Class Jeanne Balcombe and Pvt. Tekoa Brown became the first two U.S. Army Military Police Corps soldiers whose names are engraved on the memorial.

Workmen sandblasted 280 names onto the memorial's panels last week, in a manner of recognition similar to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. Of those, 134 belong to peace officers killed last year.

According to memorial officials, they join seven members of the Army Criminal Investigation Command and 27 law enforcement officers from the other military services.

There are now 15,139 names inscribed in the low, sloping panels that ring the plaza. Only those peace officers who die in the performance of their duties are noted with their names etched in the marble.

Balcombe, 33, from McMinneville, Ore., was a member of the 55th Military Police Company at Camp Red Cloud, Korea. She was shot and killed August 21 at the Troop Medical Clinic at Camp Red Cloud in an altercation with one of the soldiers in her unit.

According to published accounts, Balcombe placed herself between the armed gunman and three other soldiers. She is survived by her husband and two daughters.

Brown, 21, and a member of the U.S. Army Transportation Center and Fort Eustis Military Police Company, died May 10, 1999. Her death came as a result of injuries suffered in an auto accident nine days earlier as she was responding to an emergency call at Fort Eustis. In the Army just eight months when she died, she is survived by her daughter.

The memorial, dedicated in 1991, is located on Judiciary Square, a wide plaza tucked in among courthouses and municipal buildings just blocks from the Capitol.

The annual candlelight ceremony to dedicate the additions occurs during National Police Week. As part of the remembrance, the newly added names are read aloud and hand-held candles illuminate the plaza.