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Four hundred sixty-eight ... The number of wreaths laid at
the base of just as many trees on Warriors Walk in Fort Stewart,
Georgia, on a beautiful, sunny December 12, 2015 Saturday afternoon.
Each of the 468 trees represents a Fallen Soldier lost battling
terrorism during Operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn or Enduring
Freedom. The wreaths, placed in conjunction with Wreaths Across
America, are meant to remember and honor the Fallen and their
Families.
This year,
139 Family Members representing 43 Soldiers were present for the
ceremony hosted by Wreaths for Warriors Walk and the 3rd Infantry
Division. Several hundred more volunteers from the Division and
surrounding community gathered to place a wreath for the Families
who could not attend.
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The Tumanuvao family
proudly stands in front of their fallen Soldier's white-blooming Crape Myrtle, December 12,
2015 with Staff Sgt. Sean Sandlin (second from left), 1st Battalion,
30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team on Warriors
Walk in Fort Stewart, Ga. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Uriah Walker, 3ID
Public Affairs)
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Many of the volunteers are not strangers to the Families
whose husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, brother
or sister is represented by the White-blooming Crape
Myrtles.
Staff Sgt. Sean Sandlin, 1st Battalion,
30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team
remembers every one of his Soldiers he lost in combat – 14
trees on Warriors Walk represent some of those men.br>
“It's an honor, it's a continuing tradition that we never
forget our Soldiers,” said Sandlin. “What happened, when it
happened; Legacies and traditions are something in the
military that is extremely important.”
He continued
saying, “I can always come out and see my boys, I can always
see my brothers; they never disappear. It's a nice
remembrance to see that people don't forget – you forget a
Soldier, that's the worst thing in the world.”
Sandlin had the opportunity to meet the family of one of his
boys, Sgt. Lui Tumanuvao, lost 7 Nov. 2007 in Iraq.
“Seeing the families and being able to give them pieces of
how they (their Soldier) lived out there, not just letters
or words or pictures it was, ‘I remember when he did this'
or ‘I remember the funny story of this,' and that relates to
them that they weren't alone,” he said. “It's an honor to
them and it's an honor to me to be able to see them.”
Along with the wreath laying, each of the trees is also
decorated, entirely by volunteers, the day before the
ceremony. The tradition began in 2007 when Linda Lamie
decorated her son, Sgt. Gene Lamie's tree.
“The next
year a couple other Gold Star Mothers asked if I would
decorate their trees,” said Lamie. “Then the next year I
said, ‘Well I can't leave everybody else's tree,' so we
started decorating all of the trees.”
Not only do the
trees receive random decorations, but also many of the
Families, units and individual Soldiers will either send or
bring special ornaments to be placed at or on the Soldier's
memorial tree.
“When I decorate their loved one's
tree here at Warriors Walk I take a picture and send it to
them,” she said.
By U.S. Army Sgt. Uriah Walker, 3ID Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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