SSG Jeffery Hall, photo taken just a few days before his was KIA (Source: Annette Hall)
The city of Huntsville will honor our country’s veterans with a big parade this weekend. The parade starts at Lot K on Woodson Street. It will also pass by the Veterans Memorial on Monroe Street and end near the Lumberyard on Cleveland Avenue.
Before the parade steps off Saturday morning, there will be a special breakfast to honor our local Gold Star Families. WAAY 31 sat down with a Gold Star Mother to share her story and learn what this annual event means to them.
There was never any doubt Jeffrey Hall would be a soldier.
“Since he was six or seven years old, that’s what he wanted to do,” explained his mother, Annette Hall, “When he graduated high school, he had already pre-enlisted.”
Life was good. Staff Sergeant Jeffery Hall not only achieved his dreams but he flourished as an Army Ranger.
“He was so excited to be tabbed, to realize his goals, and to make it happen, and to be ready to step out and lead, which is what he wanted to do.”
He even met some unexpected twists along the way.
“Jeffrey never thought he would have a wife or family because he knew he was military and he was always going to be military. He thought he was too much of a tough old nut, but he did,” Hall said with a smile.
SSG Jeffery Hall on his wedding day (Source: Annette Hall)
Jeffery’s daughter was born six months before he left on his third deployment.
“We’re eternally grateful he had the opportunity to be a husband and a Dad.”
On June 1, 2009, Annette Hall and her family would join a group no one ever wants to join. Her mother’s intuition kicked in when her husband went to answer the door.
“He said there’s two military people on the front porch, so I knew. I knew. (and) he had been killed 11 hours earlier by an IED,” she paused, “Four men were killed that day in that vehicle, two survived.”
His family, including his 11 month old daughter, left to navigate the world without him.
“It was his destiny. It was what he was meant to do. It was what he loved to do. He saw the world in black and white. He felt like it was his mission to stand for right and wrong and I often refer to him as one of God’s warriors, and I believe that in my heart,” Hall smiled.
Like others, the Halls have been recognized in the past at Huntsville’s Annual Gold Star Family Breakfast. She says it’s the love of the community that comforts families like hers.
“As a family member, you want to talk about that loved one, it brings joy to your heart to know that they are remembered, that they’re not forgotten, and that their sacrifice is recognized.”
Click here for details On The North Alabama Chapter Of Gold Star Mothers.
Credit: Source link