Honoring our fallen soldiers is something that, sadly, far too few of us do. Sure, many of us respect the flag, and we’ll never say a bad word about serving men and women, but it’s all too easy for those who have died in action to become a sorry afterthought.
Not so for this high school student who is honoring 25 fallen Marines with her prom dress – which reportedly took her two years to make.
Aubrey Headon attends Rochelle Township High School in Rochelle, Illinois, and designed her prom dress to resemble the American flag with streamers of red and white that flow down the blue skirt. The top half of the dress included embellishments that looked like stars.
However, it’s not the striking color scheme that has sparked attention — it’s the detail. On the red and white ribbons are 25 names printed in white and black belonging to the members of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, also known as 3/5 or Darkhorse, that were killed in action between September 2010 and April 2011 while conducting operations in the Sangin District of Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
Hearing about the battalion inspired Headon to pay tribute to the men’s sacrifice.
“I wanted to wear this tribute dress [to] my senior prom so the memories of the guys who fell in Afghanistan for our right to live how we do and do what we do every day is carried on,” the teen said to Yahoo Lifestyle. “I don’t want them to fade into nothing.”
Headon told Yahoo Lifestyle, the idea sparks after she met Gretchen Catherwood, a mom of one of the fallen men.
“She started the Darkhorse Lodge to help combat veterans. I do a fundraiser every year to donate to the lodge,” Headon said.
Below are the names of the fallen Marines:
- 1st Lt. Robert M. Kelly
- 1st Lt. William Donnelly
- Lance Cpl. Arden Buenagua
- Lance Cpl. John Sparks
- Cpl. Justin Cain
- Pfc. Victor Dew
- Lance Cpl. Joseph Rodewald
- Sgt. Ian Tawney
- Lance Cpl. Phillip Vinnedge
- Lance Cpl. Alec Catherwood
- Lance Cpl. Irvin Ceniceros
- Lance Cpl. Joseph Lopez
- Lance Cpl. James Boelk
- Lance Cpl. Matthew Broehm
- Lance Cpl. Brandon Pearson
- Lance Cpl. Randy Braggs
- Lance Cpl. James Stack
- Sgt. Jason Peto
- Sgt. Matthew Abbate
- Lance Cpl. Kenneth Corzine
- Pfc. Colton Rusk
- Cpl. Derek Wyatt
- Lance Cpl. Jose Maldonado
- Cpl. Tevan Nguyen
- Sgt. Jason Amores
Since posting her dress on social media, Headon said she’s received tons of messages of support.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: AWM, Yahoo Lifestyle
Thomas Cooper