Four Fort Lewis soldiers remembered

FORT LEWIS - Fort Lewis is saying goodbye to four of its own.  Four soldiers from the 4th Stryker Brigade were memorialized together Tuesday at a time when the base is reconsidering whether it'll hold group memorials.

The post commander came under scrutiny for his decision to hold just one group memorial a month for everyone killed.  But now he's rethinking that policy.

The 4th Stryker Brigade chose to go ahead with this group memorial anyway.

Two of them died together. Staff Sgt. Kristopher Higdon and PFC. Robert Worthington were killed May 22nd by a roadside bomb.

Staff Sgt. David Kuehl also died May 22nd in a separate bomb incident.

Cpl. Mathew LaForest died three days later from gunshot wounds suffered when his unit came under attack from enemy forces.

But all are from the 4th Stryker Brigade and all are being remembered together.

"And as we go about our days ahead I can only pray that we all honor them equally, daily as they honored us," Maj. Chad Sundem said at the memorial.

Fort Lewis commanders say each individual soldier is honored even though this is a group setting.  Commanding Gen. William Troy says there are so many deaths, with nearly 11,000 Fort Lewis troops in harms way that it was becoming too much for them to handle individual memorials.

But military families tell us that's what the troops deserve.

"Every soldier there has made a sacrifice and a few minutes of a day, if that's all we can give to them, they deserve that," said Army wife Katheren Gomez.

Military mom Vicky Mohler added, "Having the individual memorial services like most people do is more meaningful."

No final decision has been made.  There could be a few group memorials along with individual ones.  Thursday there will be an individual memorial for a member of the 3rd Stryker Brigade.

The post commanders say it's important to remember that each soldier gets an individual memorial in Iraq and an individual funeral here at home.