Names added to war memorial

By Julia LeDoux

Published: May 14, 2008

John Parrish and Wayne Parker of Kline Memorials in Manassas carefully placed stencils on the Prince William County War Memorial on Wednesday morning. The stencils bore the names of two local men who died in service to the country.

Masking tape secured the stencils to the gray granite memorial and a sandblaster was then used to etch the names of Pfc. Steven A. Davis and 1st Lt. Benjamin A. Hall into the memorial in advance of Saturday’s Armed Forces Day ceremony that will honor the two men.

“The sand will bounce off, and it’ll penetrate where the letters have been cut out,” Parker said.

Davis, 23, died July 4, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with grenades. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo., at the time of his death.

“His mom is currently deployed and his grandfather is currently deployed to Iraq,” said Patty Prince, a public information specialist for Prince William County.

Hall died July 31, 2007, in Asadabad, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit in Chowkay Valley. The 24-year-old was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based at Vixenza, Italy.

Hall grew up in Woodbridge and elsewhere. He graduated from C.D. Hylton High School in 2001 and went on to earn a degree in political science from Michigan Tech, where he was a top cadet in his ROTC program before serving as a paratrooper and Ranger.

“Benjamin Hall actually followed his father’s footsteps [and joined the Army],” Prince said. “That was what he always wanted to do.”

The county war memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1992 and recognizes those from the county who gave their lives during World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In 2006, the county worked with local veterans to find the best way to honor those who had given their lives in the Middle East. It was decided to engrave the opposing face of the stone with the names of the 12 community members that had been killed in Iran, on the U.S.S. Cole in Afghanistan and Iraq. The names of two marines killed in Iraq were added to the memorial last year.

Fort Belvoir installation commander Col. Brian W. Lauritzen is the keynote speaker for the event, which begins at 1 p.m. and will take place at the memorial on the grounds of the James J. McCoart Administration Complex on Prince William Parkway. The public is invited to attend.