Roll of Honor
Incident
Police Officer Henry Cotton died from complications of an on-duty injury suffered on March 18th, 1986.
He was attempting to apprehend a suspect when he suffered a groin injury. The extent of the injury required him to undergo two surgeries. He was recovering from the first surgery when he suffered a pulmonary embolism and died on April 29th, 1986.
Officer Cotton had served with the Perkins Police Department for 19 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and three children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-OK-263558E8- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Police Officer Cotton gave the Perkins Police Department 19 years.
Thank you for your service to the Perkins community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Cotton.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Police Officer Henry Lester Cotton is one of 2,974 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 9.1% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In OK, 21 of 582 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 3.6% of this state's fallen. That is 5.5 percentage points below the national rate of 9.1%.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Henry Lester Cotton's cause is highlighted.
How Henry Lester Cotton Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. Henry Lester Cotton is highlighted in Apr.