Tommy Byrd said this is his 20th blood drive and the story of the late PFC Justin Whitmire really tugged at his heart.
The months since the death of PFC Justin Whitmire have been difficult for the family, but the outpouring of support from the community has been what has helped them to heal, according to Whitmire's maternal grandmother, Pat Surett. On Friday at a blood drive in Easley, Surett came to donate a pint of blood in her grandson's memory, but also to thank the organizer, Tommy Byrd of Seneca. She looked at the photo of Justin Whitmore on the flyers hanging on the table outside Kmart in Easley. She said she loved that picture of her grandson in uniform, because you could see part of his smile. "I guess they tell them not to smile, " Surett said. "But that wasn't Justin, he always had the biggest smile on his face." Surett, wearing a camouflage T-…
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Peaceful protestors gathered to form a human shield around the church, but Westboro Baptist Church members were nowhere to be seen.
Thousands gathered in Simpsonville on Saturday. Lining the streets with American flags and posters with patriotic messages, they stood for hours to honor the memory of a fallen soldier. Many didn’t know Army medic PFC Justin Whitmire, 20, who had graduated from Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville in 2010. They hadn’t seen his smile that could light up a room and they didn’t know of his love of fishing or for Clemson, but still they came. Whitmire died on Dec. 27 in Afghanistan, just 19 days after his arrival there. But it didn’t matter that Whitmire wasn’t a close personal friend of the hundreds who formed a human shield around Simpsonville First Baptist Church, after the infamous Westboro Baptist Church had said it would protest the …
Cheryl
11:45 am on Tuesday, January 10, 2012
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