The Troop and Family Health clinic has officially been renamed the Pvt. Kelly W. Byars Health Clinic during a renaming ceremony, here, May 24.
Womack Army Medical Center holds a tradition of naming its health clinics after North Carolina natives to include Sgt. 1st Class Lawrence Joel, and Col. Mildred I. Clark Health Clinics. Byars is now amongst those clinics.
Byars Clinic is a 51,000 sq.ft. state-of-the-art facility, serving 16,000 Airmen, Soldiers, Families and Retirees with the latest amenities and technologies to include: optometry behavioral health, physical therapy, pharmacology, radiology and laboratory.
Col. Alesia Carizales, 43rd Medical Squadron commander and family physician at the clinic, gave the opening remarks.
"Since arriving here at Fort Bragg in 2014, I have had the pleasure of working in what I consider to be the most unique of the WAMC primary care clinics. What makes this place unique is that we have Civilian, Airmen and Soldiers working side by side successfully. Our clinic is a perfect example of what today's military health service is becoming, illustrating the vision of those who came before us."
"Honor. Inspiration. Family," said Col. Lance Raney, Womack Army Medical Center commander and guest speaker for the event. "It is a great day that we can honor one of our former family members, one of our Soldiers from WWII. Today we honor Kelly W. Byars for the work that he did, not just for why he received the Silver Star, but really for his commitment.
"Second, by using Byers' name and putting it on this clinic, he inspires this team and everyone who walks through the door every day that you are part of something much greater than yourself. You [the audience] are part of a much larger family that extends well beyond the generation we live in today. It was very hard to find any family members related to Byars, so today we are welcoming Byars back into our military family."
The (abbreviated) citation reads:
Private Kelly W. Byars, United States Army, received the Silver Star for gallantry in action while serving with Company A, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, in action on 20 September 1944 in Holland.
The 1st Platoon of Company Alpha was leading the attack, and the left flank ran into heavy machine gun and rifle fire, resulting in several men being seriously wounded. Private Byars, the platoon Aid Man, saw the men fall and rushed to their aid across open ground swept by automatic weapons and rifle fire.
During this entire action, Private Byars was under fire of the enemy. He knew that he was the target of aimed fire yet showed extraordinary bravery and exposed himself to the fire to save the life of a wounded man. His gallant action was not only in keeping with high traditions of the service but those of humanity as well.
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