28 September 2005

Honor Lines Road for Fallen Soldier

From Soldiers' Angel Hannah:

There was a soldier killed in Iraq that was being buried in my hometown. Monday morning, while I was getting ready for school, I decided that something needed to be done! I came up with the idea of doing the "Texas Style" soldier funeral. I went to school and got it approved there for the First Priority Leadership team to go. I called my mom and dad during Drivers Ed...


What happened next from the Sep. 27, 2005 Lexington Herald:

Honor lines road for fallen soldier

HARLAN COUNTY STUDENT'S EFFORTS SPUR TURNOUT

HARLAN - Students from Cawood High School, hospital employees and others turned out to line the roadway as Sgt. Matthew L. Deckard's body was carried to its final resting place yesterday.

Students held a large banner thanking Deckard, 29, for his service.

High school senior Hannah Sergent didn't know Deckard, but she read about him in the newspaper and wanted to make sure he was remembered.

"It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, but when I was getting ready for school this morning, I couldn't stop thinking about this man and the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country," Sergent said.
(...)

"I strongly support our troops overseas, and this was just a small thing we could do for his grieving family."

Deckard, formerly of Elizabethtown, was killed Sept. 16 in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. He is survived by his wife, Angela, a Harlan native whom he met in high school, and their three children. Deckard, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was on his second deployment to Iraq.

Sergent talked to other students about lining the road during the funeral procession to the cemetery 10 miles away in Cranks.

So many students wanted to participate that a bus, driven by Cawood teacher Glenn Wills, was necessary to take them.
(...)

After talking to other students, Sergent called her mother, an emergency room nurse at Harlan Appalachian Regional Hospital.

"I got her message on my voice mail at about 8:30 this morning," said Kaye Brown, Sergent's mother. "She seemed pretty determined to do this."

Brown said she called others at the hospital...


Make sure to read about the memorial service in Iraq for SGT Deckard, SFC Alan Gifford, and SPC David Ford from milblogger ThunderSix at 365 and a wakeup.

Godpseed SGT Deckard, SFC Gifford, and SPC Ford.

And well done, Hannah.

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