Little Rock Purple Heart Ceremony
We had a correspondent at the ceremony yesterday in the Arkansas Capital for the award of the Purple Heart Medals to (former) Private Quinton L. Ezeagwula and the family of the late Private William A. Long. Both of the men were gunned down by admitted terrorist Carlos Bledsoe six years ago while they were on hometown recruiter duty in Little Rock. Bledsoe admitted that he trained in Yemen for his terrorist attack in support of al Qaeda and he was looking for a target of opportunity when he saw the two soldiers on a smoke break outside of the recruiting station. According to Stu, our correspondent;
Major General Jeffrey Snow, CG, US Army Recruiting Command, presented the Purple Heart posthumously to Mr. And Mrs. Daris Long, parents of Private William A. Long, who was murdered in a terrorist attack at the Little Rock Recruiting Station in 2009; and to (former) Private Quinton L. Ezeagwula, who was wounded in the attack. Present for the ceremony were Arkansas Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton, 2nd District Congressman French Hill, Governor Asa Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin. Tim Griffin was previously the 2nd District Congressman and introduced the legislation to enable the award. French Hill continued the effort.
Shown in the accompanying photo are Griffin, Ezeagwula and Hill. In the other photo Congressman Hill presented Exeagwula’s mother with a flag that flew over the US capitol. Private Long’s parents, sister and brother, were presented a Gold Star lapel button.
Stu says that he’ll have more photos for us later.
Category: Army News
Well deserved and long over due.
Good for them and Godspeed to the Trooper that gave his life in service to his country, even in Little Rock.
About time.
Thank you for your service, gentlemen. The sacrifice of your families is also appreciated.
Good to see this.
It’s a damn shame that it took an Act of Congress – literally – to make this happen here (and at Fort Hood as well). Once the perp has admitted they were engaging in an act of terrorism in support of a foreign cause, what more do you need to declare their actions to have been an act of international terrorism?
Long overdue recognition.