Remembering those who fought and died in the War on Terror

SALT LAKE CITY — Memorial Day is an opportunity to remember those individuals who gave their lives for the good of the nation, including the War on Terror.

On Friday, Jennie Taylor, founder of the Major Brent Taylor Foundation and co-host of the KSL podcast Relentlessly Resilient, joined Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson to discuss where our thoughts should be this weekend.

Matheson begins the conversation by asking “Tell us what you’ve been doing today?”

Taylor says she opened the weekend by speaking at two of Utah’s Veterans Homes.

“I’m preaching to the choir with those people,” Taylor said. “… Just come together and that a very heavy price has been paid by previous generations, so that our generation can chase the dreams that the American dream affords each of us.”

War on Terror Memorial monument

Recently, Taylor had a piece published on the Global War or Terrorism Memorial Foundation. Matheson said, “Tell us about that.”

“There is a national foundation that has been given the congressional assignment of creating a national monument for this war,” she said. “And those who fought and died in it on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.”

Taylor says it’s still a few years away from being completed. She is among several individuals from the Gold Star community that gets to sit in on the conversations and add stories and faces to the 20-year war. 

Matheson says the War on Terror wasn’t a conventional war. And because of that, it’s sometimes easy to forget about it or not understand its place in the nation’s history.

He asked, “What are some of the things that are coming forward in terms of how do you tell that story?”

Taylor says there will be a lot of stories to tell because of the length of the conflict.

“I think we’ll see some exciting things with this monument,” she said. “Taking into account some of the technology that we have.”

Taylor says there is one thing that she really appreciates about this monument.

“And the one thing I love about this,” she said. “That just touches my heart so much is the fact that Congress has given the OK for it to be done, now.”

She acknowledges how touching and beautiful the World War II monument is.

“I love that we’ve been able to take veterans out there,” Taylor said. “But we took most of them in wheelchairs and on oxygen tanks.”

Honor flight to Georgia

Leading into the weekend of Sept. 11, Taylor will lead an honor flight to Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) in Georgia. Fort Moore has the names of every soldier who died overseas during the War on Terror.

Of the 7,000 soldiers to die in the war, Taylor’s organization has identified more than 75 names with direct ties to Utah.

Taylor is working to find those families.

“Their name is on the wall,” she said. “It’s in Georgia. We want to pay for their travel to come with us this September. …. We want them to have the healing opportunity to touch their name on a wall.”

For more information on the Major Brent Taylor Foundation, click here. 

Listen to the entire segment.

 

Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson can be heard on weekdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

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• Major Brent Taylor Foundation searching for large stolen flag

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