The Fort Stewart community gathered Thursday morning at the installation's Warriors Walk to honor a fallen 3rd Infantry Division sergeant.
Two months into a nine-month rotation with the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, 28-year-old Sgt. Aaron Wittman was killed during a firefight with enemy forces in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province Jan. 10. He was the first American service member killed supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in 2013.
The Eastern redbud tree dedicated Thursday was the 445th planted along Fort Stewart's memorial grove in honor of a fallen soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan since 3rd ID forces opened Operation Iraqi Freedom in April 2003.
Wittman's father, Duane Wittman, said his son, "loved being a soldier."
“Unfortunately, he died doing what he thought was best for everybody else,” Duane Wittman said.
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