A sad first for state officials today: the governor and commissioner of Veterans Affairs presented a new medal to the family of a Tennessee soldier who died in combat. WPLN’s Daniel Potter reports on the award for Sgt. 1st Class Dennis Murray.
CHORUS: “Glory, glory alleluia…”
Murray was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last fall. He was from Red Boiling Springs, northeast of Nashville near the Kentucky border.
During the ceremony at the state capitol his family asked not to talk with reporters, but Veterans Affairs Commissioner Many-Bears Grinder spoke with Murray’s mother. Grinder herself lost a daughter-in-law in Iraq, and says it’s not a bond anyone wants to share.
REPORTER: “Do you care to talk a little bit about what y’all talked about?”
GRINDER: “Well, first of all, I just wanted to know a little bit about Sergeant Murray. What did he like to do? He loved to hunt, he loved to fish. He was a good, good person. He served for over 20 years in the military.”
Sfc. Murray is the first to receive the award, called the Tennessee Fallen Heroes Medal, which was created by lawmakers (pdf) last year for service members killed in combat. According to the Washington Post 136 Tennesseans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
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