Community Corner

Shelby Township to Dedicate Global War on Terror Memorial

A new memorial will be dedicated Sunday at the Shelby Township municipal complex to honor those who died in the Global War on Terror.

A monument with the names of the six Shelby Township residents who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror will be dedicated Sunday during the community's Memorial Day ceremony.

The memorial will join the existing monument recognizing residents who died serving the country as far back as World War I.

"We are putting all the brothers on one memorial," said Shelby Township Veterans Events Coordinator Phil Randazzo.

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The new memorial - which is a five‐foot granite replica of Macomb County’s Heart of America Memorial - will be dedicated at 1:30 p.m. Sunday and will recognize those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their families are also scheduled to be in attendance.

According to the township, the names of Shelby Township soldiers who died in Iraq — Mark Barbret, Tarryl Hill and Christopher Kube — will be removed from their current location on the Veterans Memorial and join the names of U.S. Army soldiers Kyle B. McClain and Todd Lambka, who were killed in action last year in Afghanistan.

Find out what's happening in Shelby-Uticawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The name of, Alex Knapp who died of a cardiac event in 2010 following his return from Iraq, where he lost both legs in an improvised explosive device blast in 2008 will also be included.

Randazzo added the event is open to the public, and he invites residents to come out to meet the families of the fallen and "shake their hands, give them a hug and thank them. (Their relatives) died to protect us."


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