|
There is a schoolhouse among the green trees and rolling hills of
Maryland where artists gather by the hundreds. They strive to become
wordsmiths, master the photography medium, and aspire to be
television personalities. Over $5 lattes, they enjoy each other’s
camaraderie while going over assignments and laughing at each other
the way only family can.
Down one hallway, the sound of
laughter fades and eventually dies at the doorway of a grand room.
There is no laughter permitted inside as the residents demand
respect, honor and compassion. The room by its very nature is like
none other in the building. Adorned with flags, photos line one wall
and reach to the two-story ceiling while on another wall, sunlight
reflects on the names of those who will never again feel its warmth.
|
May 11, 2017 - Name plaques from service members of all services are displayed in the Defense Information School's Hall of Heroes at Fort George G. Meade, MD. The Hall of Heroes is a place where public affairs military members from all branches are forever immortalized on individual plaques that bear their names, marking their final resting place in American military history. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Joshua Strang)
|
Even though in life they had mortal titles such as
husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and
daughters, the service members who reside here are no longer
allowed to hold their mother’s hands. They are unable to
recognize their sibling’s faces and they will never again
hold their children to their chests.
They are now
immortal.
The Hall of
Heroes in the Defense Information School at Fort George G.
Meade is a place where public affairs military members from
all branches are forever immortalized on individual plaques
that bear their names, marking their final resting place in
American military history.
“It’s a very solemn,
dignified place in the school,” said Command Sgt. Maj.
Sharon Opeka, DINFOS command sergeant major. “It is a very
special area.”
Created in 2006, there are currently
128 names that adorn the wall reaching back over many
conflicts.
“The earliest plaque dates from the
Korean War,” said Opeka. “That is not because that was when
the first communication specialist was killed, that is when
they started listing casualties by occupation. So, that is
all we can trace back.”
Upon closer inspection, the
names seem to be randomly arranged. That feature was not
done by mistake and speaks to a deeper connection that all
of the members share.
“There is no order by date,
rank or service,” said Opeka. “The individuals are honored
in death as they served, as one team, with one mission: To
tell the story of the men and women of the U.S. military
operating overseas.”
Opeka has served in her role as
the top enlisted member of the schoolhouse for a little over
two years and will soon leave for a new duty assignment. She
said the Hall of Heroes is the responsibility of her
position and during her tenure, she had the somber honor to
immortalize members of the Marine Corps.
“In my time
here, we added two names in 2015,” Opeka reflected. “Those
names were Lance Cpl. Jacob Hug and Cpl. Sara Medina.”
Hug, 22, a native of Phoenix, and Medina, 23, a native of
Aurora, Illinois, were killed in a helicopter crash May 12,
2015, while documenting humanitarian relief missions in
Nepal following the devastating earthquake in April,
recalled Opeka.
While Hug and Medina are
memorialized for serving in a humanitarian role, that is not
the only requirement for a public affairs professional to be
added to the wall.
To be placed on the wall, service
members must “have been killed in combat or in the line of
duty,” said Opeka. “They must have been out there doing
their job. So if a service member died from an illness or
car accident, they would not meet the requirements.”
While the requirements to be placed in the Hall of Heroes
are not unique to the memorial, the fact that it is solely
dedicated to the public affairs community makes it special.
“I particularly like [the memorial] because we have a
great, creative occupation,” explained Opeka. “It is an
important job for our services. Civilians, and even other
service members, don’t realize what we do puts our people on
the frontline along with the infantrymen. They are out there
on the frontlines documenting history.”
That is a
fact that Sgt. Rob Farrell knows all too well.
Farrell, now with the Army Reserve’s 86th Training Division,
was a classmate with Spc. Hilda Clayton who became a
resident of the Hall of Heroes in December 2013. Farrell
distinctly recalls the day he was notified his battle buddy
had paid the ultimate sacrifice.
|
May 11, 2017 - U.S. Army Spc. Hilda Clayton and U.S. Marine
Corps Cpl. Sara Medina's name plaques are displayed in the Defense
Information School's Hall of Heroes at Fort George G. Meade, MD. The
Hall of Heroes is a place where public affairs military members from
all branches are forever immortalized on individual plaques that
bear their names, marking their final resting place in American
military history. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Joshua Strang)
|
“I got a call from
Mendez,” recalled Farrell. “I specifically remember walking
out onto the driveway for some privacy and staring at the
center-cut on the concrete. It was an incredibly strange
moment and I don’t think it quite sank in until later.
“Not until I was lying in bed did it really slap
me across the face. Visiting her at the memorial ceremony was
incredibly difficult and I believe I felt weaker than many of the
other soldiers there who had seemed to be holding themselves
together much better than I.”
Farrell and fellow classmate
Connor Mendez graduated DINFOS basic still photography and
videography classes with Clayton in 2012.
According to an Army release, Clayton, 22, “died during an Afghan
National Army training exercise, when a mortar system failed and
created a ‘catastrophic explosion’ that killed four people and
wounded 11.”
For Farrell, it is the time spent in the
schoolhouse that he best remembers his friend.
“I have many
memories with her from class,” remembered Farrell. “Towards the end
of our training, I found one of Hilda’s nametapes. At the time she
was Hilda Ortiz, so the nametape read her maiden name. I told her
that I’d never give it back to her because I collect them. I kept my
word, but when I visited her at her memorial service, I gave her one
of mine.”
The military is a family unit only a handful of
people ever experience. Of the Hall of Heroes, Farrell said the
memorial held importance for him while he was in training but
knowing an individual on the wall makes him much more proud of his
friend and of all of the service members who pass through the halls.
It is just one more way to feel connected and valued.
“Esprit
de corps is a very important part of our military,” said Farrell.
“We fight alongside our brothers and sisters because we feel a sense
of community with them, like we belong to a group. Hilda was part of
that brotherhood for many. To not memorialize her sacrifice would be
a great crime.”
Perhaps the author Sebastian Junger summed it
up best in his book, “War.” “The only thing that makes battle
psychologically tolerable is the brotherhood among soldiers. You
need each other to get by.”
The residents of the Hall of
Heroes will live forever as they served, shoulder to shoulder, as
one team on one wall.
By U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Joshua Strang
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
Comment on this article |
