Spartans thank community descendants

Photo By Spc. Jose Rivera | Maj. Sean Burnett, operations officer with 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, speaks to descendants of the Taylors Creek Community on Fort Stewart, Ga., October 16, 2016. Events like the Taylors Creek ceremony allows Soldiers and units of 3rd Infantry Division to build and strengthen relationships with the communities surrounding Fort Stewart.  

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

10.16.2016

Story by Spc. Jose Rivera 

2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs

FORT STEWART, Ga. – Soldiers of 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division participated in an event for descendants of Taylors Creek community on Fort Stewart, Georgia, Oct 16.


There are 27 known cemeteries on Fort Stewart, which were there before the base was built in the early 1940s. Taylors Creek Cemetery is one of the largest community cemeteries on Fort Stewart and a reunion is held annually to remember those who are buried there and thank them for their sacrifice to our nation.


“Thanks you,” said Maj. Sean Burnett, operations officer with 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd IBCT. “You are all part of our legacy. Fort Stewart right now is one of the premier power projection platforms for the U.S. military, having over 4,000 Soldiers deployed to 15 countries.”


“We can not do this without Fort Stewart, and 71 years later we are still saying thank you for allowing us to utilize this land for our training and everything that we have to do to get our sons and daughters ready to go to combat.”


The land that comprises the Fort Stewart Military Reservation was acquired by the federal government for use as an anti-aircraft training center for the United States Army according to the base’s website.


There are approximately five people still living who were there during the transition according to Lloyd Hendry Jr. with the Taylors Creek Cemetery Association. Hendry asserts, Taylors Creek Cemetery Association has a bright future.


“It keeps alive the memory for future generations of the communities that were here prior to Fort Stewart.


Hendry, whose father grew up in the community, has been with the Taylors Creek Cemetery Association for approximately 20 years. The annual event honors those who lived there as well as the descendants of those who were laid to rest at the cemetery.


“The young people running around here don’t really know very much about this, but they will,” said Hendry. “There are revolutionary Soldiers and Civil War Soldiers in there. It is just a slice of history and we don’t want it to go.”

• Date Taken: 10.16.2016
• Date Posted: 10.19.2016 14:42
• Story ID: 212393
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US