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By TERENCE J. KIVLAN

Badge No. 2584. worn by Correction Officer George Motchan of Willowbrook when he was fatatly wounded last month, was retired yesterday in a somber ceremony in Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn.

The badge was mounted on a plaque honoring Motchan for "unselfishly giving his life in the line of duty" and [it was] hung in the command center for Department ot Correction guards on the sixth floor of the geriatrics building at the medical center.

"It was the men’s idea," said Correction Commissioner Benjamin J. Malcolm, who dedicated the plaque at the ceremony, “They wanted something to perpetuate his memory.”

Tbe 45-year old Islander was the first correctIon officer killed on the job in the history of the department. He died on Sept. 15, one week after being shot in the back by a prison inmate who had been brought to the Brooklyn hospital for dental care.

According to accounts of the incident, the unarmed Motchan locked himself in a bathroom with the inmate to prevent a shoot-out between the man and fellow officer outside. But Connor was wounded anyway when the prisoner made his escape and in still recovering in the hospital.

Malcolm said that. even on his death bed. Motchan continued to be concerned about Connor. "When I went to see George,” Malcolm recalled, “the first thing he wanted to know was 'how is my partner.’ Those were the last words to’ me.”

Dr. George C. Motchan, 53, son of C.O. George Motchan, died June 3, 2007, from injuries sustained in an auto accident near his Sandy Springs, Ga., home. Educated at Brooklyn Technical College and Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, he moved in 1980 to Georgia to continue his medical studies. He became anesthesiologist at two Atlanta hospitals, was an avid photographer, gardener, and classic car collector. Survivors included his wife, Lois; three daughters, Tori, Brooke and Jaye; his mother, Dolly, and his sister, Kathy Dory.

Some of the 40 or so corrections officers who attended yesterday’s dedication had similiar recollections of Motchan.

“What happened last month was typical of George.’ said Rude Lapolla of Brooklyn, one of his closest friends. “He was more interested in protecting his partner than himself.”

Lapolla, who used to vacation during the summer with Motchan in Seaside Heights, N J., added that the slain Islander was one of the best liked men on the corrections force at Kings Counts Hospital where he worked for 15 years.

"Whenever a new man came on the job." Lapolla said, "George would he the first one to introduce himself and help the guy out,’

Another Brooklynite. Kevin Calabrese who was a new man three years ago, agreed. He said that working the midnight to 8:30 am shift, Motchan’s regular tour, has suddenly become a lot more tedious than normal since the shooting.

Also at the ceremony was Motchan's son, George Jr., who recently scored among the highest in the country on the national test for prospective medical students and said he hoped to eater Downstate Medical School at Kings County Hospital next year.

Young Motchan, 21, now a senior in Brooklyn College, also said that his father had urged him to become a doctor,

"He couldn’t go to school himself because he had to get out and work,” added George Jr. “But he always wanted me to have what he didn’t have.”

In addition to Commissioner Malcolm, other speakers at the dedication were Peter Schaefer. the Correction Department warden at Kings County Hospital, and Harold Brown, the head of the officers union.

The prison inmate, Joseph James, was arrested for Motchan's killing by a team of Brooklyn detectives Sept. 18. James also faces charges in the murder of a Brooklyn store owner last year.