News-Info-Alerts

Re: MIA/KIA Posthumously Decorated

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: June 16, 2003

"Slain soldier's mother will get his Purple Heart, Bronze Star


By: Ben Lefebvre, Macomb Daily Special Writer


Sloan: Killed in Iraq war after his convoy was ambushed.Brandon Sloan gave his life in service of his country. The U.S. military will give his mother honors in respect of his memory.
Brandon Sloan will be posthumously decorated today in a ceremony at the Army Reserve Center in Fraser. Battalion Commander Elliott Benson of the 1st Battalion 399th Infantry Regiment will present the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals to Sloan's mother, Kimberly Sloan of Fraser, during the private ceremony. Sloan's family and fellow soldiers will be in attendance.

The Bronze Star medal is awarded to U.S. soldiers who distinguish themselves by meritorious achievement. The Purple Heart is given to those wounded in the course of combat.

Pvt. Sloan of Bedford Heights, Ohio, served in the 507th Maintenance Company out of Fort Bliss, Texas. Iraqi fighters ambushed his convoy northwest of Basra on March 23.

Sloan had been classified as missing in action until the Pentagon confirmed his death April 3, when his body, along with 10 others, was discovered at the hospital in Nasiriyah where Jessica Lynch had been rescued. He was 19 years old.

Sloan joined the Army after withdrawing from his senior year at Bedford High School. He stayed with his mother in Fraser before enlisting. He had wanted to improve his job skills and hoped to become a military vehicle driver, his mother said.

"He was a very kind person, and I'm extremely proud of him for fighting for our country," she said in an earlier interview.


©The Macomb Daily 2003 "