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thedrifter
03-05-09, 06:09 AM
MNF-W restores and rededicates monument aboard Al Asad

3/4/2009 By Cpl. Meg Murray , Multi National Force - West

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq —

During a recent ceremony, Marines and sailors aboard Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, gathered to rededicate one of the base’s main thoroughfares as Memorial Lane in honor of those service members who lost their lives in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“Welcome to today’s rededication ceremony where we will once again resurrect a memorial in honor of those who have fallen,” began Lt. Col. Joe H. Adkins, Jr., the commanding officer of Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 26.

“You may ask what qualifies me to be given the privilege to speak at such an honorable occasion, and let me be the first to tell you publicly that I am nothing more than a humbled Marine who stands in awe,” Adkins continued, “and I will forever be in debt to those who have given their lives so we can enjoy the freedom to willingly and graciously participate in ceremonies such as this one.”

The lane was originally dedicated on July 21, 2005, near the spot where Cpl. Andrew D. Brownfield, a 24-year-old ordnance support Marine with Marine Wing Support Squadron 374, was killed by hostile mortar fire on March 13, 2004.

With the passage of time, the small but significant memorial became weathered and worn. Eventually, a service member aboard Al Asad Air Base proposed a restoration project, and repairs were soon underway.

“We were approached by the base commander a few months ago to replace the memorial they had up here initially,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Shawn Haney, a steel worker chief with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 27. “It was in pretty bad repair, and they asked us if there was anything we could do about it.”

The original plan was to restore the sign and clean up the area, but Haney’s team took the project one step further.

“For what the memorial stood for, how they wanted us to restore it didn’t seem to do [the memorial] justice,” said Haney. “We decided to put a little more into it, because it seemed like the right thing to do.”

A handful of sailors with NMCB-27 designed a new sign to mark memorial lane, but kept the original wording, “Memorial Lane, dedicated to those in the American military who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom in Iraq.”

“It’s not a big deal for us to do [a project] like this; we all have the ability to do it,” said Haney. “I just hope it causes passers-by to stop and think for a minute about why they’re here.”

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a black cover was lifted from the new Memorial Lane monument, revealing a new and improved reminder of the sacrifices made in the name of freedom.

“The monument will serve as a reminder to all those who pass that our fallen are never forgotten,” Adkins concluded. “Let it stand forever.”

Ellie