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    Army Reserve dedicates permanent exhibit at Pentagon

    Army Reserve dedicates permanent exhibit at Pentagon

    Photo By Chief Petty Officer Lisa Ferdinando | Silver Star recipient and retired Army Reserve Spc. Jeremy Church (left) talks with...... read more read more

    ARLINGTON, VA, UNITED STATES

    04.21.2015

    Story by Lisa Ferdinando           

    Defense Media Activity - Proper         

    WASHINGTON - Two Army Reserve Silver Star recipients and the father of a Reserve Soldier who was captured and killed in Iraq were the honored guests who helped dedicate the Army Reserve's first permanent Pentagon exhibit.

    The exhibit stretches the length of the fifth corridor on the Pentagon's second floor. It showcases Army Reserve history, from its infancy in 1908 as a small corps of medical professionals, to today's force.

    Lt. Gen. Jeffrey W. Talley, chief of the Army Reserve, presided over the ceremony, cutting a yellow ribbon. Assisting him were Silver Star recipients Jeremy Church and David Hutchinson, along with Keith Maupin, the father of Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin.

    Matt Maupin was missing for four years after his fuel convoy was attacked in Iraq in 2004. His remains were identified in 2008.

    "I know that Matt was the first Soldier captured in Iraq, and he will be remembered forever. To me, that's important," Maupin said, adding that Matt put a face on the Iraq war and on the war in Afghanistan as well.

    Maupin founded the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, which mails packages to deployed service members and honors those who don't come home.

    Maupin said he is grateful for the freedom that service members provide to Americans. He is personally grateful, he said, to those service members who continually searched for his son after the ambush.

    "I can't thank them enough and I know that I will never meet them all," he said. "But I want to tell them 'thank you.' Somebody was always looking for Matt - and they never forgot him."

    RESERVISTS ON THE FRONTLINES

    Church, who is medically retired from the Army, was in Maupin's convoy when it was attacked. He said he was humbled to be recognized for his actions.

    "It is a great honor," said Church, who attended the dedication with his wife.

    Church was the first Army Reserve Soldier to earn the Silver Star in Iraq. He was recognized for heroic actions in 2004, when he drove his convoy's command vehicle through a four-mile kill zone to render assistance to fellow Soldiers after the ambush by Iraqi insurgents.

    "It's actually a great honor to be brought up here ... to be in a corridor with all the great people," he said.

    "There is really no word to describe it," he said, noting that to him there was no distinction between the Reserve and active duty components since everyone was on the same mission.

    "It's nice to know that great people have your back," he said. "I guess someday my children or my grandchildren will see this and be proud."

    Hutchinson, then a private on personal security detail, earned the Silver Star in 2008 by placing accurate and effective fire on insurgents while in a convoy heading to a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

    AN ICONIC PLACE

    The Pentagon is both a building and an icon - a symbol of America's power and might, Talley said. Along its 17 miles of corridor, there are displays that chronicle America's history and the valor and sacrifices of America's men and women in uniform.

    "But until today, there was no space that honored the more than a century of service that the Army Reserve has provided to the nation," Talley said.

    The Army Reserve Corridor will be a "visual and visceral connection to all of the citizen-Soldiers, past and present, whose valor and sacrifice, service and fidelity, exemplify our past, guide our present and light our way into the future," the general remarked.

    The new exhibit chronicles more than 100 years of Army Reserve history, said John Boyd, the director of the Office of Army Reserve History at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

    Starting with 1908, the exhibit showcases the historical milestones, including the Reserve being codified in 1920 as an organized Reserve, to modern day, Boyd said. It contains artifacts, photographs and interactive displays.

    The Army Reserve, with approximately 200,000 members, is essential in supporting the mission of the entire Army. It is comprised of highly trained men and women who are "twice the citizen," serving in civilian jobs and serving their country as called up for wars, humanitarian efforts and many other missions to serve and protect the people of the United States and the globe, Boyd said.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 04.21.2015
    Date Posted: 04.22.2015 19:17
    Story ID: 160899
    Location: ARLINGTON, VA, US
    Hometown: CINCINNATI, OH, US

    Web Views: 116
    Downloads: 0

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