Thomas Owen Pilkington

Chester City Police Department — Chester, PA

Accident Veteran

End of Watch August 13, 1993

Age 50

The Vigil Panel 139 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 16

Incident

Corporal Thomas Pilkington died as a result of health complications he received from responding to the Wade Dump Fire on February 2, 1978.

Corporal Pilkington was assigned to direct traffic on the smoke-shrouded Commodore Barry Bridge during the fire. Throughout the clean-up and investigation, he was assigned to a local health officer to assist in gathering chemical samples.

He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and peripheral neuropathy in 1990 and died as a result on August 13, 1993. The health officer was also diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1993 and died on October 5, 1994.

Corporal Pilkington was a United States Army veteran.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-PA-4F4976EB
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 served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Corporal Pilkington served with the Chester City Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the Chester community. Thank you for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Chester City Police Department

Location Chester, PA

Platform Identity cpd.delaware.pa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch August 13, 1993

Age 50

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Weapon Toxic chemicals

Offender Sentenced to 2 years

Military Service

Thomas Owen Pilkington served in the United States military before joining law enforcement. Full service record available on salute.nw.

Corporal Thomas Owen Pilkington is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In PA, 417 of 1,261 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 33.1% of this state's fallen. That is 2.1 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Chester City Police Department, 7 of 17 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 41.2% of this agency's fallen.

Chester City Police Department

of 17 officers

41.2% Accident

PA — Statewide

417

of 1,261 officers

33.1% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident