The Veterans at the Library assembled at the Veterans and 1st Responders Memorial Park Friday, August 23, at 10 a.m. to add two more U.S. Flags to the fence out front. These two Flags, the 23rd and 24th, represent two Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers that both died in Bagdad, Iraq on July 31, 2024, in two separate incidents in non-combat related incidents. Spc. Owen James Elliott, 23, of Twin City, died Wednesday, July 31. Elliott was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment based in Savannah. That unit began a Middle East deployment in December, focusing on Air defense artillery. Spc. Travis Jordan Pameni, 23, of Douglasville, died in Bagdad, Iraq after an incident at another location on the same day. Pameni was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, based in Lawrenceville. That unit began a mission at an undisclosed location in the Middle East in April. The Veterans at the Library started honoring deployed veterans that have died while serving their country after 11 Marines, one Navy Corpsman and one Army soldier were killed by an ISIS-K suicide bomber outside the Kabul airport at Abbey Gate while helping to oversee the humanitarian evacuation mission of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies on August 26, 2021. The 14th U.S. Flag was erected to honor Spc. Bishop E. Evans, a Texas Army National Guardsman who drowned April 22, 2022, while attempting to save two migrants who appeared to be drowning in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Next, the 15th and 16th U.S. Flags were added to honor the two U.S. Navy Seals Team III that drowned while climbing aboard an unflagged ship that was carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen. Navy Seal 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram and 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers were lost in the rolling high seas off the coast of Somalia. The 17th, 18th and 19th U.S. Flags were added to honor three Georgia Soldiers that were killed in Jordan on January 28, 2024. All three soldiers were members of the 718th Engineer Company (U.S. Army Reserve), 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Fort Moore, (Benning) Georgia. The three soldiers killed are Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrolton, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders of Waycross, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett of Savannah. They were killed along with 40 other service members that were injured following an uncrewed aerial system (drone) attack at a military base near the Syrian border (Tower 22) and impacted their container housing unit. The 20th, 21st, and 22nd U.S. Flags were added to honor two New York Army National Guard members and the one U.S. Border Patrol agent that were killed when the UH-72 Lakota helicopter they were flying crashed near Rio Grande City, Texas on March 8, 2024. They were Chief Warrant Officer II Casey Frankoski, Chief Warrant Officer II John Grassia and U.S. Border Patrol Agent Chris Luna. In attendance the event were the parents of Owen Elliott, Sandie and James Elliott. Als, in attendance were Owens grandfather, Willie Freeman, and Owens sister-in-law, Savannah Elliott. All 24 U.S. Flags are flying for American Heroes killed or who died in the line of duty, serving and protecting our country. 'LET US NOT FORGET".
