F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- 790th Missile Security Forces Squadron defenders gathered outside of the 90th Security Forces Group building Memorial Day, May 30, to rededicate the newly cleaned memorial to fallen members of the SFG.
The memorial bears the names of 90th SFG defenders who have died in the line of duty. The plaque looked weathered and Senior Airman Justin Frawley, 790th MSFS Tactical Response Force, thought it needed to be taken care of out of respect for the dead.
“I talked to my flight chief and noted all the name plates were tarnished,” he said. “I figured with Memorial Day coming up, it would be good to clean it up.”
Senior Master Sgt. Brady McCoy, 790th MSFS operations superintendent, polished the name plates. Some of the plates were corroded beyond what simple polishing could fix, so the arts and crafts center on base made new ones to affix to the memorial.
“I think at the end of the day, it shows that we haven’t forgotten those who sacrificed everything for us,” McCoy said.
During a brief ceremony, McCoy and Frawley unveiled the polished memorial, and Lt. Col. Christopher Johnson, 790th MSFS commander, spoke a few words about the reason and importance of the project.
“It was a dirty memorial with a tarnished bunch of names,” Johnson said. “Now, people can swing by and see their loved ones names in a more appropriate display.”
Johnson said Memorial Day is a time to remember those who gave their lives in service to their country, and the rededication of the memorial does just that.
“God bless the fallen heroes of the 90th Security Forces Group,” he said. “Let’s take a few moments today to reflect on what our own heroes have done before we get caught up in the day off.”
Frawley said the unsatisfactory state of the memorial caught his attention because he comes from a military family who takes honoring fallen service members very seriously.
“We’re going to make sure the memorial doesn’t get like that again,” he said. “The 790th [MSFS] will be taking care of it from now on.