Recognition Well Deserved
One of the primary reasons our military exists is to provide security. That’s true whether you’re talking about the nation in general, or to specific individuals or facilities in a combat zone.
Sometimes people die doing that job. And while that hurts – especially for the family and friends of those lost – it’s something that can’t always be prevented. It’s a risk inherent to the profession.
Over time, memories of such sacrifices fade. The fact of such sacrifices, while not forgotten, dims in or is lost to society’s collective memory.
In November 2004, two Kansas ARNG soldiers – SFC Clayton Wisdom and SGT Don Clary – were KIA in Iraq. They died when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy transporting a group of staff members from the Iraq Survey Group and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
SFC Wisdom and SGT Clary were among those providing security for the convoy. During convoy operations they’d placed their vehicle between the convoy and another vehicle, preventing it from approaching the rest of the convoy. They were killed when the suicide bomber in that other vehicle detonated his bomb.
Their remains were repatriated. Their funerals were held. The matter, while not forgotten, faded from our memory.
That’s simply the norm. And that’s normally where the story would end.
Except this time, someone they were protecting thought their sacrifice should be publicly recognized – and the memory of that sacrifice preserved for posterity.
The Defense Intelligence Agency maintains a memorial for those Agency personnel who died in line of duty at their Headquarters on Joint Base Anacosta-Bolling. DIA has announced it will add SFC Wisdom’s and SGT Clary’s name to that memorial to honor their sacrifice, as they were killed while defending DIA personnel.
Thanks for remembering, DIA. Many thanks.
Note: the first two links show SFC Wisdom and SGT Clary as SSG Wisdom and SPC Clary; the last linked article indicates their ranks as SFC and SGT, respectively. Apparently both received posthumous promotions.
Category: Historical, Military issues, Real Soldiers
Good. This was done right.
The men were indeed promoted posthumously. SSG Wisdom was 39 and had served in the Persian Gulf War and Grenada. He was a husband and Dad. SGT Clary was 21 and a third generation soldier. According to SGT Clary’s sister, their father served in Vietnam and their grandfather in WW II and Korea. She added that Clary had quit college to care for their father, who was then gravely ill. Dad and son were reunited on 8 November 2004, the date Wisdom and Clary sacrificed themselves to protect that convoy.
For Mike and Roberto, KIA in Iraq and friends of mine, I’ll never forget them. Good to hear things like this.