Our Wall Of Recognition

Part Five, November 2006Another election is upon us and our loved ones are fighting for others to have the right to vote. The morbid irony is that most of us will find excuses for not exercising one of our most basic rights of being a citizen in this country. Some fifty years ago, less than a lifetime for some of us; there were “other soldiers” who fought in another war for our right to vote. These soldiers did not wear uniforms or carry weapons, they fought with love , hope, and prayer. Some of them died. They sacrificed their lives for us to make excuses. Do we want to continue this same mentality for eternity? Is it too much to ask that you take an hour of your life to express your opinion so that these brave Women and Men shown here have not died in vain? Please, as you watch these faces, forget the politics that brought them here, forget the negative television ads, forget the party platforms, but don’t forget that these departed souls have made their final sacrifice for you and I. Vote, encourage your friends, family and especially your children to do so. Remember, you do it to honor them.

Clyde Dowell II

For Omissions or Submissions email me at Donqdow2@hotmail.com

Sgt Amos Edwards, 41 Savannah, Ga

2nd Lt. Almar Fitzgerald, 23 Lexington, SC

Sgt Anton Hiett, 25 Mount Airy, NC

SSgt Brian Lewis, 32 Bunkie, LA

Spc Antoine Mckinzie, 25 Indianapolis IN

SSgt Darrell Clay, 34 Fayetteville NC

Pfc Raymond Henry, 21 Anaheim CA

Spc. David Timmons , 23 Lewisville NC

SSgt Marion Flint Jr. 29 Baltimore MD

A1C Leebenard Chavis, 21 Hampton VA

Sgt. Carlos Pernell, 25 Munford AL

Pfc. Justin Davis 19, Gaithersburg Md

Sgt. Alkaila Floyd, 23 Grand Rapids MI

SSgt. Michael Dickinson, 26 Battle Creek MI

Sgt. Isaac Lawson, 35 Sacramento CA

Sgt. Marquees Quick, 28 Hoover AL

SSgt. Dwayne Williams, 28 Baltimore MD

Spc. Windell Simmons, 20 Hopkinsville KY

SSgt. Edward Reynolds, 27 Groves TX

Pfc. Satieon Greenlee, 24 Pendleton SC

Sgt Clarence McSwain, 31 Meridian MS

1st Sgt. Charles King, 48 Mobile AL

SSgt. Darren Harmon, 44 Newark Delaware

Sgt. Lonnie Allen Jr. 26 Bellevue Nebraska

SSgt Dwayne P.R. Lewis, 26 New York, NY

SSgt. Kenneth Pugh, 39 Houston TX Sgt. Germaine Debro 33 Omaha

NE

Lcpl Howard March Jr. 20 Buffalo NY

SSgt. Mario Bievre, 34 Constantinople IL

Lcpl Nicholas Whyte, 21 Brooklyn NY

Homegoing service

Sgt. Mario Nelson, 26 Brooklyn NY

Sgt. Wakkuna Jackson, 21 Jacksonville FL

"I didn't try and talk her out of the service, that's what she wanted to do, and me being an ex serviceman she knew the danger of it, and that's why she wanted to go. She said 'Dad if something's going to happen to me its going to happen,'"

Jackson’s passion for helping others didn’t just start when she enlisted. When she was seventeen, she cut off her hair and donated it to a local cancer society. Her father said: "she never thought twice about it, she would do anything; she wouldn’t think anything about it just like that was what she was born to do."

This determined 23-year-old rose to the top of her high school class and became the first minority female Command Sergeant Major in the history of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She set school records as a sprinter on the track team, led the school's gospel choir, tutored a number of other students and even helped start a dance squad to cheer on the football and basketball teams. Professors wanted her to be in their classes, soldiers wanted her to lead their cadets, underclassmen wanted to catch a little bit of the unstoppable drive that pushed her to meet and exceed the many challenges the academy throws at its students.

2nd LT. Emily J.T. Perez, 23, Fort Washington MD

3,107 American Servicewomen and Men have fallen in the war against terror, 266 of them are of African descent.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others”

Martin Luther King Jr.

I have no words to describe the anguish parents must feel when they receive the news that their child will not be returning from military service. It is something that I pray to never have to experience. But to those who have endured this sorrow, our hearts go out to you, your grief is our grief, and your loss is a loss for all of us. May God bless ,and comfort you during these troubled times