Honoring Their Sacrifice

Kentucky National Guard Memorial

Status Brief as of: 25 May 2015

Mission

• To identify Kentucky Guard men and women who died in the line of duty from 1912 to present;

• To design, construct and maintain a memorial in their honor --- creating a sacred space for families, friends, and brothers in arms to honor those who have fallen

• Educate the public for generations to come about the timeless principles of honor, duty and sacrifice for: home and family; community and Commonwealth; and the nation.

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Mission Status

• Identify fallen – Perpetual

• Design - Complete

• Construction - Complete

• Maintain – Perpetual

• Public education – Perpetual

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The names of 233 men and women who have fallen in the line of duty since 1912 are now inscribed on the Memorial.

Finding the Fallen

• The vision of creating a memorial to honor Kentucky National Guardsmen grew out of tragedy.

• In April 2004 as the Guard community struggled with the losses in Iraq; Sergeant Glenn Scott Stanfill on a training mission here in Kentucky and First Lieutenant Robert L. Henderson, II in Iraq—all in a period of a few weeks.

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• Further evidence of the public’s fleeting memory of the fallen continued to crop up with the discovery of other forgotten losses such as Kentucky Guardsman Sergeant Thomas J. Brown who died on state active duty responding to the great flood of 1937.

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Telling the Stories of the Fallen

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• Sergeant Darrin K. Potter

• Glenn Scott Stanfill

• First Lieutenant Robert L. Henderson, II

• Sergeant Thomas J. Brown

• Staff Sergeant Regina L. Isenberg

• Captain Roger Moss Sanders

• Sergeant James Alexander Sherrill

Just a few examples

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• Sergeant Darrin K. Potter, 24, of Louisville, Jefferson, County, Kentucky, was killed in Iraq on 29 September 2003. Potter was a member of a military police team in a four-vehicle convoy responding to reports of a mortar attack outside of Baghdad near Abu Ghraib Prison, in Iraq. Potter was a member of the 223rd Military Police Company serving with the 800th Military Police Brigade in Iraq.

• Sergeant Potter was the Kentucky Guard's first combat-related death since the Vietnam War.

Sergeant Darrin K. Potter

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• Sergeant Glenn Scott Stanfill of Perry County, Kentucky, sustained fatal injuries when the HUMMWV (M998) he was driving was struck by a tractor-trailer on the Hal Rogers Parkway just East of Manchester, Kentucky on 12 March 2004. Sergeant Stanfill was in route to the East Kentucky Training Site EKTS-A (Artemus) with B Company 206th Engineer Battalion, Hazard, Kentucky Army National Guard as part of a Battalion Field Training Exercise (FTX).

Sergeant Glenn Scott Stanfill

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• First Lieutenant Robert Lewis. Henderson, II, 33, of Alvaton, Warren County, Kentucky, died 17 April 2004 in, Diwaniyah, Iraq, when his convoy tried to avoid an overturned trailer and came under small arms attack. Henderson, though mortally wounded, continued to drive his vehicle and lead the convoy out of the ambush and repositioned his vehicle so that the other soldiers in the vehicle could return fire before he collapsed. First Lieutenant Henderson was assigned to the Army National Guard's Detachment

First Lieutenant Robert L. Henderson II

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• Sergeant Thomas J. "Tommy" Brown of Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky, age 34, drowned in the Pond River at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, 23 January 1937 while on state active duty in response to the flood of 1937 near Jewel City in nine feet of flood water. He was assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion of the 149th Infantry from Madisonville. He is the only known Kentucky National Guardsman who perished on duty during the great flood of 1937. Brown was a butcher in civilian life at the Red Front Grocery then on West Center Street in Madisonville and was married and had one son.

Sergeant Thomas J. Brown

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• Staff Sergeant Regina L. Isenberg of Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky, was killed in a military vehicle accident on Tuesday, 10 April 1990 on the Western Kentucky Parkway near Leitchfield in Grayson County. She was assigned to Headquarters, State Area Command (STARC) Kentucky Army National Guard. She was transporting an M-60 Tank engine from the Ford Regional Training Center (WHFRTC) to the Combined Support Maintenance Shop (CSMS) in Frankfort in an engineer dump truck on rain slick roads. Isenberg graduated from Warren Central High School in 1978 and joined the 2123rd Transportation Company (Heavy Truck), Kentucky Army National Guard in Bowling Green in February 1981.

Staff Sergeant Regina L. Isenberg

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• Captain Roger Moss Sanders, 31, of Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, died on 14 September 1971 when the RF-101 “Voodoo” he was piloting crashed shortly after takeoff. He was able to eject but did not survive his injuries. Sanders was taking off simultaneously with another aircraft as part of a night refueling exercise. The other aircraft landed safely. Sanders was born in Louisiana. He graduated from Frankfort High and the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor’s in civil engineering. Sanders was a manager with Bell Telephone. Sanders enlisted in as photo helper rising to the rank of Airman 3rd Class before he accepted a commission.

Captain Roger Moss Sanders

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• Sergeant James Alexander Sherrill, 27, of Ekron, Meade County, Kentucky, was killed Sunday 3 April 2005, in Bayji, Iraq, when his armored medium truck encountered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Sherrill was assigned to the Army National Guard's 2113th Transportation Company, Paducah, Kentucky. His unit mobilized for Operation Iraqi Freedom in

Sergeant James Alexander Sherrill

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EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION

On Site & Online

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FINAL THOUGHTS & QUESTIONS

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