Fort Leonard Wood Hall of Honor pays tribute to fallen service members

By Derek Gean (Fort Wood Community Editor)July 24, 2014

Fort Leonard Wood Hall of Honor pays tribute to fallen service members
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

There is a new hallowed hall reserved for paying respect to those who fell in battle or deceased retired service members at the Fort Leonard Wood Army Community Service Center.

The Hall of Honor, sponsored by ACS's Survivor Outreach Services, is now located in the old Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation lobby of ACS.

Jody Carmack, Survivor Outreach Services support coordinator, explains how service members are honored at the Hall of Honor at Army Community Service.

The memorial opened on July 4 with a special ceremony to honor the first 21 service members.

It began as the Installation Management Command SOS program recommended that all installations attempt to create a space to honor service members connected to their installation in some way.

"Here on Fort Leonard Wood, we include service members who were either stationed here, attended training here or have survivors who live in Missouri. If their survivors want them honored here, we will include them," said Jody Carmack, SOS support coordinator.

Currently, there are 30 active-duty service members and 16 retirees honored in the hall.

"We have room for at least 50 of each, with the possibility of expanding as necessary," she said.

The hall includes photos of honored service members along with framed compilation posters of fallen service members nationwide.

Carmack said SOS members work hard to make sure fallen Soldiers and service members are properly honored.

"We feel it is very important to honor all service members who have come forward to defend our nation. Having a room dedicated to remembering and respecting the type of people it takes to keep our nation protected is quite humbling," Carmack said.

She said what had become unused space is now a "warm, inviting, reverent room where anyone can come, sit and reflect on the dedication it takes to enter into a career that can either send you to fight and fall in battle or to lead and mentor other service members over the tenure of their career.

Carmack said it not just about recognizing service members, but also about honoring the Families that stood along with them.

"We recognize the Families who stood with their service members and also deserve our respect," Carmack said.

ACS chief Dan Furlano said President Abraham Lincoln made a promise "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan."

"The Hall of Honor is just one way we keep that promise and keep the Families of the fallen connected to the Army Family for as long as they desire. I am honored and humbled for ACS to be the stewards of that promise," Furlano said.

One Family member, Katrinka Good, has her late husband, retired Marine Sgt. Maj. Charles Good, honored in the hall. Serving as a volunteer who leads the installation's Retiree Survivor Support Group, she said the room is valuable for those grieving a lost loved one.

"It's a remembering room. If you are there alone, or with other grieving Family members you are all in that boat together, you are sharing that piece of life that isn't there anymore," Good said.

The Hall of Honor is open for visitation to the general public from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the Army Community Service Center, Building 486. For more information, call 596.0212.

Related Links:

Fort Leonard Wood on Flickr

Fort Leonard Wood Guidon Newspaper

Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonad Wood