Fighting New Battles - Arkansas National Guard

The Arkansas Minutemanof interestArkansas National Guard pays homage to fallen heroesPledge to remember fallen Soldiers continues, honor extended to conflicts pastStaff Sgts. Stacy C. Brandon and BillyJ. Orton were heroes to their familieslong before they made the ultimate sacrificefor their country. On Saturday, May6, the Arkansas Army National Guardpaid homage to them and 31 other fallenheroes who served with the 39th BrigadeCombat Team in support of OperationIraqi Freedom.The brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 153rdInfantry dedicated a permanent memorialat the Col. A.J. “Bo” Baker ReadinessCenter in Searcy, Ark., ensuring that thebrigade’s fallen Soldiers are never forgotten.The memorial honors 16 Arkansansand 17 fellow Soldiers from other stateswho died during the brigade’s mobilizationfrom October 2003 to April 2005.On Sunday, May 7, the ArkansasArmy National Guard revisited an existingmemorial previously dedicated toArkansas’ most recent fallen Soldiers, inorder to extend the honor to fallen Soldiersfrom previous conflicts. The Guardreached into its past to honor Arkansanskilled in action during the War with Mexico,the Civil War, World War II and theKorean War. Twenty-eight plaques wereadded to a Camp Robinson memorial thatalready bears the names of the ArkansasSoldiers killed in action during OperationIraqi Freedom. The monument is locatednext to the post chapel and was initiallydedicated on Sept. 10, 2005.Twenty of the newly placed plaqueshonor Guard members killed in the Warwith Mexico, along with three fromWorld War II and four from the KoreanWar. A single plaque honors all Soldierslost in the Civil War since those Soldierscannot be appropriately categorized.For April Brandon, memorials likethese have a special poignancy. She andher children, Jonathan and Brianna, losttheir father on April 24, 2004, while hewas serving in Taji, Iraq with the 39th.“This is a permanent symbol of whatmy husband and so many others havegiven to this country,” she said as shestood next to the Searcy monument.“When I look at it I think about howI’ll be able to bring my kids and theirkids to see things like this, and like theydid today, they’ll be able to find theirdaddy’s and granddaddy’s names andkeep remembering.”Stacy Brandon was 35 when he losthis life in Iraq. Jonathan was three andBrianna one at the time.“If Stacy were here I can see himdoing just like all of these Soldiers aredoing here today, he’d puff up and go‘hooah,” she said, fighting off a flood oftears. “He’s probably very proud. He’sproud that people are remembering him,and for what the military has done for usas far as taking care of us.”The idea for the Searcy memorialbegan when Family Readiness Groupmember Jeannie Smith saw a similarmonument at the courthouse in Jones-Page 6 Summer 2006