Lives of seven soldiers honored in Drum ceremony

FORT DRUM — Liberty Hope Steele, 1, stood and called out, “Dada,” in front of an enlarged photograph of her father, 1st Lt. Timothy J. Steele, who was killed in Afghanistan.

The photo portrayed one of seven men who were killed in action while serving in Kandahar province.

On Thursday, hundreds of family members, friends and soldiers gathered at Fort Drum’s chapel to honor their loved ones and comrades in arms.

The lives of Lt. Steele, Sgt. Edward J. Frank II, Sgt. Jameel T. Freeman, Spc. Patrick L. Lay II, Spc. Jordan M. Morris, Pfc. Reuben J. Lopez and Spc. Mark J. Downer were remembered by those who trained with and fought next to them.

“There is a saying that a soldier is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check to be made payable to the country for an amount up to and including their life,” said Pvt. Ryan Olsta, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

Pvt. Olsta was one of the soldiers who offered a final funny memory, favorite story or a few tears during the ceremony. He spoke about Spc. Morris, one of five soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division who were killed Aug. 11 when their unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device.

Sgt. Frank, Sgt. Freeman, Spc. Lay and Pfc. Lopez were killed in the same attack.

“He always had a smile on his face, no matter where he was or what he was doing,” Pvt. Olsta said of Spc. Morris.

“He had an uncanny ability to throw in a witty joke or a ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ line at exactly the right moments. If you needed to smile, he was the guy to see.”

Smiles, though, were outnumbered by tears at the ceremony.

Sgt. Joel M. Sanchez, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, apologized to the audience for the tears and choked-up moments that would come during his speech about Spc. Downer.

“August 5, 2011, is a day I will always remember,” Sgt. Sanchez said while fighting back tears. “That day, I lost a comrade and a friend. Words alone can not describe the emotions that I felt that day. It was a combination of fury and sadness.”

Spc. Downer was a combat medic, a position that Sgt. Sanchez said he was perfect for because Spc. Downer had the necessary balance of compassion and emotional strength.

Pfc. Anthony Garcia said Spc. Lay was the kind of person who was friendly and outgoing in everything he did. He recalled Spc. Lay as a positive thinker who loved what he was doing.

Pfc. Garcia said that positive personality was always apparent, such as when “Spc. Lay broke his foot and spray-painted his crutches a camo pattern.”

The memory of the lives of the seven soldiers will carry on through the people they left behind.

“This is a check that all of us soldiers make and we make it with pride and honor,” Pvt. Olsta said.

“However, it doesn’t take away the sting or the pain of losing a friend, because when you make a friend in the Army they become a part of your family and a part of your life.”