As part of its commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation paid off the mortgages of five fallen first responders—including that of the Gloucester home of Virginia State Police Trooper and Marine Corps veteran Chad Dermyer.

The mortgage payoffs are part of Tunnel to Towers’ third annual Season of Hope, which celebrates the holiday season by delivering mortgage-free homes or mortgage payoffs to families of fallen first responders, Gold Star families, and catastrophically injured veterans around the country.

This year, the foundation will pay off or dedicate 65 mortgage-free homes between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

On March 31, 2016, Dermyer was shot and killed in the line of duty while speaking to a suspicious person inside a Greyhound bus terminal in Richmond. He left behind his wife Michelle and the couple’s two children. Michelle was overwhelmed by the generosity of the foundation’s gift.

“It is hard...