subscribesubscriber servicescontact usabout ussite mapBuy a Classified
Sun, Jul 05 2009 

Resources

print this story   Print this story
  Post to del.icio.us

Photos



/


Pfc. Justin Dreese
/


American Legion Post 25 Honor Guard plays Taps after the 21-gun salute for Pfc. Justin Dreese.
Blue Dog Imaging/For The Daily Item /


Pfc. Justin Dreese's unit Sgts. Brian Myers, John Cop and Carlton Brewington from Fort Bragg, N.C.
Blue Dog Imaging/For The Daily Item /


Alexa Dreese, sister of Pfc. Justin Dreese sings "Proud to Be an American" during the dedication.
Blue Dog Imaging/For The Daily Item /


Snyder County Commissioner Richard Bickhart, state Sen. John Gordner and state Rep. Russ Fairchild attend the dedication.
Blue Dog Imaging/For The Daily Item /


Published August 11, 2008 12:54 am - About a quarter of this borough’s population turned out to honor fallen soldier Pfc. Justin Dreese Sunday afternoon.


Community honors fallen soldier
Plaque placed in park for Pfc. Justin Dreese

By Rob Scott
The Daily Item

FREEBURG — About a quarter of this borough’s population turned out to honor fallen soldier Pfc. Justin Dreese Sunday afternoon.

Mayor Fred Moyer said between 125-150 people attended a dedication ceremony at Freeburg Community Park for Dreese, who was killed by mortar fire 2 years ago in Iraq.

Moyer said many of the people who donated their time to work on the park over the past several months attended

Also attending were state representatives Russ Fairchild, R-85, of Lewisburg, and Merle Phillips, R-108, of RR2 Sunbury, and state Sen. John Gordner, R-27 of Berwick.

Several soldiers who served with Dreese came up from Fort Bragg in North Carolina to speak as well, including Staff Sgt. Carlton Brewington, Dreese’s squad leader in Iraq.

“To me, he was a very energetic person, a very caring person,” said Brewington. “At times, I found him motivating me.

“The biggest thing that touches me is, when someone dies everyone says nice things about them. Everybody’s got good things to say about Justin and it’s all true.”

Sgt. Brian Myers, who served with Dreese for 2 years first in Afghanistan and then Iraq, said he was impressed by the turnout from such a small community.

“I didn’t expect that big a turnout,” Myers said. “That’s definitely an encouragement that people still support (the troops) ... It kind of reiterates that.”

Moyer said a plaque was placed in the park, dedicating it as the Justin Dreese Memorial Park.

The mayor said he was concerned the weather wouldn’t cooperate, with forecasters calling for thunderstorms during the day Sunday.

“We were so lucky,” he said afterward.

But Myers believes luck may not have had anything to do with it.

“I kind of thought Justin may have had something to do with that,” he said.

n E-mail comments to rscott@dailyitem.com.



print this story    email this story    comment on this story   

Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.




monster
autoconx
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Premium Jobs

Operations Manager
Operations
Manager -
Westwood Generation Station

Integrys Energy Services, Inc., is currently rec
...>MORE

Registered Nurse

REGISTERED NURSE

At Geisinger HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, a 42 bed Joint Venture Rehabilitatio
...>MORE

Application Developer

APPLICATION DEVELOPER

Advanced Scientifics, an ISO 13485 Certified and FDA Registered Company, located
...>MORE

Milton School Board Vacancy

NOTICE

SCHOOL
BOARD
VACANCY

Due to a resignation from the Milton Area School Dist
...>MORE

Permanent Job Openings
-ATTENTION-

$3,200 a month to start and up.
PERMANENT JOB
OPENINGS
Due to company expansion, o
...>MORE

See all ads


 

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.CNHI Classified Advertising NetworkCNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2009. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
View our Privacy Policy
Advertiser index