By Jon Guncay
On May 15, 2017, my family and I were in Redding, Calif. for a wedding. While visiting around the town, I happened into the local VFW, Post 1934. My son and I were looking at some of the photos on the wall when a picture of an Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) caught my eye, as it was my vehicle in Iraq. Upon a closer look, I noticed that the bumper number not only had my company’s number on it, but it was in fact MY exact vehicle from that deployment. I was so taken aback by this, as no one from that unit was from this part of the country, so I have no idea how it came to be there in this high plateau town.
In seeing this, I asked the post if they wouldn’t mind adding “In memory of 1LT Ashley Henderson-Huff” to the photo, to honor my platoon leader we lost that deployment.
To make a long story short, the post invited my family and I back the next day, prior to having to make a flight home, to hold a dog tag and flag folding ceremony in her honor. Complete with a chaplain rendering a prayer, honor guard with military police (our job in Iraq), and dog tags made with Ashley’s information on it, the post made sure to pull out all
the stops to honor my LT as if she and I were life members of their post. I was moved to tears, which made telling her story in front of that impromptu crowd all the more difficult, but important.
This VFW post was a stout reminder that we are all brothers and sisters — that we share each other’s pains and joys. My family, 1LT Henderson-Huff’s family, and I will never forget this post’s outpouring of support and above expectation hospitality. While post 3063 is our home, this only goes to prove that we are welcome to hang our hat at any VFW post that we happen into.