Tree honors husband, father
http://news.fayetteville.net/articles/146/1/Tree-honors-husband-father/Page1.html
sharonda thomas
Live Life To The Fullest!!!!!!! By sharonda thomas
Published on 07/28/2008
Faye Quinn kneels with her son, Ronan, in front of a memorial at a Fort Bragg ceremony July 15 in honor of her husband.
The 82nd Airborne Division
A large silver wedding band dangled from a chain around Faye Quinn’s neck as she knelt by a granite stone laid in front of a young tree planted last week at Fort Bragg.
In her arms, her infant son, Ronan, nursed a pacifier and glanced at the stone laid in honor of a father he will never meet: Sgt. Adam D. Quinn.
Ronan was born in February — months after Quinn, 22, died of wounds suffered when a car bomb that detonated in October close to his vehicle near Kabul, Afghanistan.
Quinn, who grew up in DeLand, Fla., was an automation specialist with Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 82nd Airborne Division.
The tree and a stone commemorating Quinn were placed in a grassy quad between barracks belonging to the 82nd Division, Special Troops Battalion.
Quinn joined the Army in 2003. He completed advanced individual training in 2004 at Fort Gordon, Ga., where he met Faye, who was serving in the Oklahoma National Guard.
About 350 soldiers gathered last Tuesday, forming a semi-circle around the tree as they prayed and a soldier sang “Amazing Grace.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Patrick Brooks said he remembers Quinn for his motivation. He recalled Quinn loudly sounding off and calling cadence on battalion runs.
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” he said.
He recalled how Quinn liked to make jumps with a M-249, a small machine gun weighing more than 15 pounds. Most paratroopers prefer a lighter weapon, Cali said.
“But he loved jumping that weapon,” Cali said.
After the ceremony, Faye Quinn greeted her husband’s comrades in one of the barracks’ activity rooms, which has been named after Quinn. His portrait hangs by the entrance.
In her arms, her infant son, Ronan, nursed a pacifier and glanced at the stone laid in honor of a father he will never meet: Sgt. Adam D. Quinn.
Ronan was born in February — months after Quinn, 22, died of wounds suffered when a car bomb that detonated in October close to his vehicle near Kabul, Afghanistan.
Quinn, who grew up in DeLand, Fla., was an automation specialist with Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 82nd Airborne Division.
The tree and a stone commemorating Quinn were placed in a grassy quad between barracks belonging to the 82nd Division, Special Troops Battalion.
Quinn joined the Army in 2003. He completed advanced individual training in 2004 at Fort Gordon, Ga., where he met Faye, who was serving in the Oklahoma National Guard.
About 350 soldiers gathered last Tuesday, forming a semi-circle around the tree as they prayed and a soldier sang “Amazing Grace.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Patrick Brooks said he remembers Quinn for his motivation. He recalled Quinn loudly sounding off and calling cadence on battalion runs.
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” he said.
He recalled how Quinn liked to make jumps with a M-249, a small machine gun weighing more than 15 pounds. Most paratroopers prefer a lighter weapon, Cali said.
“But he loved jumping that weapon,” Cali said.
After the ceremony, Faye Quinn greeted her husband’s comrades in one of the barracks’ activity rooms, which has been named after Quinn. His portrait hangs by the entrance.