Freedom Remembered

Born: June 29, 1975 in Americus, Georgia
Died: July 24, 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq

Spc. Jacques E. Brunson of Americus, Georgia joined the National Guard over his mother’s objections, telling her he felt an obligation to protect future generations. He gave up a job as a guard at the Sumter County Correctional Institute in hopes of finding better-paying work. But his plans did not work out as he had hoped. He worked at a number of low-paying jobs over the last two years. It was about this time that he joined the Guard. His last job before he was mobilized in January was as a meat cutter at a grocery store. The regular paychecks of an active-duty soldier, supplemented by overseas pay and combat pay, were welcomed. He enjoyed talking about long-range reconnaissance and airborne missions and liked reading nonfiction books. One night more than 20 years ago, Jacques and his dad were stranded on the side of the Florida Turnpike when the family’s moving van ran out of gas. As they waited for help, he heard the sharp music of insects and asked his father what it was. Crickets, was the reply. Moments later, the son piped up, “I’ll tell you what they’re saying, Daddy. They’re saying, ‘I love you, I love you.’” He was a devoted father of his two children and while missing his own kids while being in Iraq, he requested coloring books, crayons, pencils, sunglasses and toys for the Iraqi children he would see while on combat patrols. He was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee while he was on patrol in Baghdad at age 30.
Army
National Guard
2nd Battalion
121st Infantry Regiment
48th Infantry Brigade
Albany, Georgia

Burial is at Floral Memory Gardens in Albany, Georgia

The Spc Jacques Earl Brunson by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.