Cadets with the Claremore High School Navy JROTC raise the flag Monday during the dedication of a memorial in honor of Pfc. Jon Townsend at Lake Park in Claremore. Townsend was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan last year. MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World
CLAREMORE - Pfc. Jon Ross Townsend epitomized selflessness, demonstrating the word of God with his actions, his mother said.
As a soldier in Afghanistan, he always kept candy to give to village children. He also did all he could to help their appearance.
"He used his own bath wipes and body wipes to clean those kids and get the flies off them," said Townsend's mother, Karen Nelson. "One of the kids was so weak he couldn't even hold a sucker."
Monday at Claremore Lake Park, friends and family dedicated a memorial to Townsend, 19, who was killed in southern Afghanistan on Sept. 16, 2012, when an Afghan police officer fired at U.S. soldiers responding to a checkpoint. Townsend was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
Monday's event represented an effort that raised more than $6,000, Nelson said.
"It means a whole lot to me because the community has just pulled together and has stepped up and donated time and money," she said in a telephone interview before the dedication.
Townsend
The memorial comprises a circular concrete pad with sunken lights and four benches. It also will feature U.S. and KIA (killed in action) flags, with room to accommodate other fallen servicemen and servicewomen.
The city donated electricity, land and labor for the memorial. The private sector donated money and some materials toward the project, playing host to events such as spaghetti dinners and motorcycle poker runs. The project also received fundraising help through Patriot Guard Riders of Oklahoma and a state of Washington band called Aces Up, managed by a former Army chaplain, family members said.
Gifted musically, Townsend played a variety of instruments, including the trumpet, French horn, saxophone, guitar, piano, organ and drums, his mother said.
"There was not an instrument he couldn't play," Nelson said.
Townsend graduated from Sequoyah High School in Claremore in 2011. His junior year, he cracked the hyoid bone in his neck in a football injury, which affected his ability to speak.
"He couldn't talk for six to eight weeks," Nelson said. "That was the hardest thing in the world for him because he talked nonstop."
Before he went to boot camp, Townsend was participating in four local youth groups.
"He loved sharing what he knew about God," Nelson said. ". He knew the Bible."
Townsend married in February 2012. He and his wife, Brittany, spent only a few days together as a married couple before he went to Afghanistan.
"He loved to be around his family," said Townsend's sister, Jennifer Tucker. "That's such a contradiction for most teenaged boys. But he really did. And he loved going to church of any kind.
"With people who didn't know him, he would share his testimony and talk about the things God has done for him."
Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Memorial to fallen soldier is dedicated
