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A little more than 10 years ago, children from St. Gregory Barbarigo Elemenary School in Houma bid a company of Houma citizen soldiers farewell as they departed their armory in busses for combat duty in Iraq.
Most members of the Louisiana National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Charley Company, known as the “Black Sheep” made it home when their tour was done.
But on Jan. 6, 2005, a roadside bomb decimated a Bradley fighting vehicle occupied by six members of the company; the deaths sent shockwaves through Houma and surrounding communities.
Two other local deaths occurred as well, in separate situations.
On Saturday, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the loss, family members, former combatants and others gathered for a private ceremony at the Houma armory.
Their photos were displayed beneath the words “Never Forget.”
Sgt. 1st Class Kurt Comeaux, Staff Sgt. Christopher Babin, Sgt. Bradley Bergeron, Sgt. Huey Fassbender, Sgt. Armand Frickey, Sgt. Warren Murphy, Sgt. Paul Heltzel and Sgt. 1st Class Peter Hahn were honored and praised by those in attendance.
Beneath each photo was a pair of combat boots, a helmet, the soldier’s dog tags and a rifle, the staples of traditional battlefield memorials for those lost to war.
“It’s just an empty feeling being here without them. I still can’t explain how I feel. It’s hard,” said Jonathan Boudreaux, who served as a machine gunner alongside Fassbender, and was at Heltzel’s side when he died. “There’s still a hole in our hearts for these guys. I know I’ll never forget them – I can’t.”
The Black Sheep served with members of the New York National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment in Iraq, and members of that group came to give honor in Houma as well.
“Hundreds of soldiers sustained injuries warranting the Purple Heart and 36 soldiers from the brigade paid the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Clifford J. Ockman, who served as the Black Sheep’s first sergeant during the deployment. “As we remember these soldiers 10 years after their passing, we can never forget what they sacrificed.”
“Though we are separated by hundreds of miles, and though it has been 10 years since we served together in war, the soldiers of the 69th will never forget all of the soldiers from the ‘Tiger Brigade’ that we have served with …but most especially, we’ll never forget our closest and our greatest friends from the Black Sheep,” said Lt. Col. Sean Flynn, current commander of the 1-69th.
The two units share another history from a time long ago, when this nation was torn in two. Their predecessors served on different sides, according to Army Staff Sgt. Denis Ricou.
“During the Civil War, Louisiana’s “Tigers” served under General “Stonewall” Jackson in the Valley campaign as well as in the famous battles of Manassas, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Appomattox. Several engagements pitted them against New York’s “Fighting 69th” of the Irish Brigade, particularly at the Battle of Malvern Hill in July of 1862,” Ricou said in a statement issued Monday.
“These two historic units, once bitter enemies in the nation’s bloodiest war, found themselves fighting side-by-side against and insurgents in Iraq,” Ricou said.
After the Saturday ceremony relatives and friends gathered in small groups to remember the time of service in Iraq.
“My brother and I were outside talking before his deployment, and he reminded me that he could lose his life; he loved the military and this is something he wanted to do,” said Shannon Murphy, sister of the 69ths Sgt. Warren Murphy.
“Although it has been 10 years, and that may seem like a long time, our feelings are not measured in days or years,” remarked retired Maj. Gen. John Basilica Jr., commander of the 256th during the deployment. “Our feelings are permanently etched in our being, and we connect with these men in our own unique ways because we will never forget.”
Ann Comeaux, mother of Sgt. Comeaux, said she was touched that people were willing to get together and that they still cared.
“My son loved what he was doing, and he was with his guys,” she said. “When he was not with us, this was his family.”
A soldier lays a wreath in front of a memorial to a fallen comrade to mark the 10th anniversary of the Louisiana National Guard’s C Co., 2nd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, 256th Brigade Combat Team’s 2004-05 deployment to Iraq where eight of the unit’s soldiers lost their lives soldiers during a ceremony Saturday in Houma. The unit was joined for the ceremony by their brethren from the New York National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, which was the unit’s higher headquarters during the deployment.
