Monday’s speaker at the community’s annual 79th annual Memorial Day ceremony said returning to Henderson was more of a “pilgrimage than a mission.”
Maj. Josh Pitcher, currently serving as the Aide-de-Camp, Office of the Adjutant General Kentucky National Guard, told the story of how came to know Henderson native Spc. David Taylor, the son of Sarah Whitledge Taylor who died on March 29, 2012.
Both Pitcher, a commissioned officer, and David Taylor were in the same company of the 82nd Airborne while deployed to a small outpost in the Kandahar Province in Afghanistan.
Pitcher was made a platoon leader. Though he and David Taylor were in different platoons, he said they met briefly after his arrival, and he felt a connection with him because of their shared roots of the Bluegrass State. The meeting was brief, “but it would forever leave a mark on my soul.”
March 29, 2012, was Pitcher’s first official day on the job as platoon leader, he said. He was in company headquarters doing paperwork when a blast shook the room. Outside, the acrid smell of smoke and gunpowder filled the air, and the screams and sights of the men still haunt him to this day, he said.
There were many injured, and the blast claimed the life of one—Spc. David Taylor.
Pitcher had to continue leading his mission, but just two weeks later, he was wounded by an IED that that took his leg—this occurred a few kilometers from where David Taylor died.
Pitcher said he had many friends who died in battle, but he wears only the name of Taylor on his wrist in his honor.
“I wear his name on my wrist,” he said.
Pitcher said that regardless how you spend your day, it’s important to reflect on why Memorial Day exists.
He said the most beautiful aspect of the day is that “no matter how you spend it, you have the choice with how you do so,” he said.
Pitcher said to take a moment to think about those who’ve given their lives for the country, and he mentioned the Gold Star families, who must endure after the loss of a son or daughter or family member lost in conflict every day.
After Pitcher spoke, Henderson Mayor Brad Staton presented him with the ceremonial key to the city, welcoming Pitcher back to town any time he’d like to return.
Monday’s program also included performing the Missing Man Honors Ceremony, Henderson County High School band playing the official songs of each branch of the military, musical selections from Leslie Hoskins and Kelly Turley and a rifle salute by the American Legion Post 40 Honor Guard. It ended with the playing of taps.
“I’m blown away by the surroundings I’m seeing right now,” Pitcher said at the beginning of his speech, mentioning the 6,400 crosses erected in Central Park, each one for a Henderson or Henderson County veteran who has died either during a conflict or afterwards.
Lt. Col. Heather Crooks, who spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, acted as the master of ceremonies. She described Memorial Day as a day of “both grief and celebration” and called on people to remember the lives lost, some of them before they had even really begun to live.
Each year the program is organized by the Henderson Veterans Memorial Foundation with assistance from the American Legion Worsham Post 40. To take a look at this year’s program that includes more details about Pitcher’s service, click here.
